Apple Sued Over Alleged Mobile Game Monopoly for Arcade
- Practice leads to high prices, fewer choices, subscriber says
- IPhone maker eased rules for competitors in September
Apple Inc. was accused in a lawsuit of monopolizing the mobile game market by keeping competitors in the subscription gaming services market off the iPhone.
The practice results in higher prices and fewer choices for gamers who subscribe to Apple Arcade, according to the complaint filed Thursday in federal court in San Jose, California. Subscribers to the service download games that can be played on their various Apple devices.
Apple’S App store rules have kept Microsoft Corp., Google and Facebook Inc., all big players in the mobile game market, off the iPhone app store after it launched the service last year, according to John Pistacchio of New Jersey, an Apple Arcade subscriber who says he’s been forced “to pay supracompetitive prices” due to the company’s “anticompetitive conduct.”