Apple said it would allow third-party payment solutions in South Korea following last year’s adoption of the law which banned app store operators from forcing their own in-app payment systems.

Google has revealed its plans to bring Android mobile games to Windows. The company officially confirmed that Google Play Games will come to PC in 2022.

Google reportedly created a special task force in 2018 as a response to Epic Games’ actions of trying to distribute Fortnite outside the Play Store. That’s according to the game developer’s latest legal filing.

Last year, Epic Games filed lawsuits both against Apple and Google. More than a year later, the Android maker decided to answer and file its counterclaim. According to Google, it is owed financial relief.

On September 10, a federal judge in California ruled that app developers can now direct users to payment options outside the App Store. That said, the court failed to “ultimately conclude that Apple is a monopolist.” Nor did the ruling force Apple into allowing third-party app stores on iOS. The iPhone maker was also allowed to keep its steep 30% commission. While Epic has lost on 9 of 10 counts, the Fortnite company might just have powerful…

South Korea’s regulators have accused Google of abusing its dominance in the smartphone market. As a result, the company was fined $177 million.

Jack Buser, formerly Director for Games at Google Stadia, is leaving for Google Cloud. On September 13, Buser is stepping in as Google Cloud’s Director of Global Gaming Solutions.

South Korea has become the first country to pass a law that ends Apple and Google’s power to dictate payment terms on their app marketplaces. This, analysts believe, sets “a potentially radical precedent for their lucrative app store operations everywhere from India to the U.S.”

Today, South Korea’s parliament is expected to approve the amendment of the Telecommunications Business Act, dubbed the “Anti-Google law.” The piece of legislation will allow mobile devs to bypass Google and Apple app stores by using independent payment systems.

Starting November 2021, app ratings on Google Play Store will be tied to specific regions. It means that users from the US won’t be able to see reviews from Japanese citizens and vice versa.

While the news around the Epic antitrust legal battle have been dropping for months now, it is just now that the court documents have been shared in an unredacted form.

A bipartisan bill was announced on Wednesday that can potentially reshape the business practices dominating the mobile distribution market. If passed, it will allow developers to add third-party payment systems to apps and inform users about discounts outside of stores. The bill has already been supported by Epic Games.

Developers from Typhoon Studios, known for Journey to the Savage Planet, have started new studio Raccoon Logic. On top of that, the industry veterans managed to secure the IP rights for their main title from Google.

Google’s plans to pay developers based on the number of sessions players have spent in their games drew mixed reactions within the games industry. Some experts are worried that this model might make studios produce lengthier games to increase engagement.

Google is now looking for new ways to attract more developers to its cloud-gaming platform Stadia. That’s why the company will introduce an 85/15 revenue split for new games. However, this rate will only apply to the first $3 million in sales.

More than 30 states have filed a lawsuit, accusing Google of being a monopolist and abusing its anti-competitive tactics. The company’s commission on its mobile app store is the main subject of the latest complaint.

As announced in March, Google is reducing its 30 percent cut to 15 percent for all Android developers for the first $1M of revenue earned each year. This is effective from July 1st, but Google has just announced that devs can start enrolling for the reduced service fee.

Google Stadia faced problems earlier this year due to the closure of its internal game studios and departures of key employees. However, the company insists that its cloud service is doing fine, although it still doesn’t disclose the number of subscribers.

Google announced it is preparing to launch a new set of policies regarding app title, icon, and developer name.