Sydney (AFP)
Epic Games, which notably develops the famous video game Fortnite, filed a complaint against Google Australia on Wednesday, denouncing its dominant position in the distribution and payment system for mobile applications.
Epic has already filed similar lawsuits against the giants Google and Apple in Europe, Great Britain and the United States for abuse of dominant position.
Their commissions can reach 30% of the amount of transactions made via the applications.
Epic has filed a complaint in the Federal Court of Australia for "abuse of dominance" with its Android operating system.
The video game publisher brought a similar action against Apple in November.
By forcing developers to use Google's payment service for app purchases offered in its virtual store and discouraging users from using other app download platforms, the tech giant violated Australian consumer law, Epic said in a statement.
"Google gives the illusion of being open by making the presence of virtual alternative application stores an argument," said Tim Sweeney, founder and CEO of Epic.
"In reality, it is rare that this infringes the monopoly of the operating system of Android", according to him.
Asked by AFP, a spokesperson for Google Australia declined to comment on Wednesday.
Epic Games attempted in August 2020 to bypass the payment technology of iOS, Apple's operating system.
The iPhone manufacturer immediately removed Fortnite from the App Store, noting a breach of the rules of the contract between the two companies.
Unlike Google, Apple does not allow users to download applications outside of the App Store, and developers must use its payment system from which it takes its share.
Apple and Google also face growing competition from other tech giants in the app market.
Facebook and Spotify believe that Apple is acting in an anti-competitive manner by imposing rules on outside developers that it does not apply to itself.
The European Commission has opened several investigations against the American giant.
© 2021 AFP