Epic Games isn’t playing around. In August 2020, the company introduced a new payment system within Fortnite, its massively popular online game, which sidestepped Apple’s and Google’s taking a cut of every in-app purchase, a practice that costs developers as much as 30% per purchase. In response, the tech giants pulled the game from their app stores. Epic Games’ subsequent anti-trust lawsuits against Apple and Google—filed in the U.S. and abroad—could help loosen their grips on the global market for apps. And there’s no sign that the Fortnite phenomenon is flagging: a record-breaking 15.3 million people played at once during the game’s season finale.
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Eyewitness Accounts From the Trump Rally Shooting
- From 2022: How the Threat of Political Violence Is Transforming America
- ‘We’re Living in a Nightmare:’ Inside the Health Crisis of a Texas Bitcoin Town
- Remembering Shannen Doherty, the Quintessential Gen X Girl
- How Often Do You Really Need to Wash Your Sheets?
- Why Mail Theft Is on the Rise
- Welcome to the Noah Lyles Olympics
- Get Our Paris Olympics Newsletter in Your Inbox