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South Korea has passed a law banning companies like Apple and Google from forcing developers using their platforms to go through their payment and billing systems.
You might not have heard anything new about Epic's lawsuits against Apple and Google, but they are yet to be resolved. There was a period earlier this year when it felt like the cases were dominating the news. All companies involved were having their dirty washing aired out in the open thanks to the need for documents to be made public.
As the three companies battle on in North American and Europe, developers have picked up a very significant win in South Korea. The country has become the first in the world to pass a law banning companies like Apple and Google from stopping developers from using third-party payment systems.
If that sounds familiar, it's because it's exactly what landed Epic in hot water with Apple and resulted in Fortnite being removed from iOS. Epic encouraged Fortnite players to purchase V-Bucks directly from the Epic Games Store. That violated Apple's rules which dictate all purchases on apps using its platform must go through its payment systems. Epic dislikes that system as Apple takes a 30% cut of all sales.
The law change in South Korea is part of an amendment to the country's Telecommunications Business Act. While it isn't officially law quite yet, it will be once President Moon Jae-In, whose party has been advocating for the amendment, signs it. Once that happens, Apple will be forced by law to allow third-party payments through the iOS store, allowing devs to use the platform to avoid Apple's 30% cut. The same applies to the Google Play store.
This is the second major law change in the space of a week that will have a major effect on the video game industry in South Korea. Last week, the country abolished a law that prevented gamers under the age of 16 from playing between the hours of midnight and 6am. The government explained that since young people are spending more time playing games on mobile, where the now-defunct law didn't apply, it made sense to make an amendment.
Source: CNBC