US Department of Justice intervenes to investigate transactions between Apple and Roblox and other developers

In the information disclosed in the App Store and Epic Games litigation documents, it is found that Apple’s transactions with developers such as Roblox are at the core of the Department of Justice’s antitrust investigation. The US government has been investigating potential antitrust actions of Apple and other technology companies, and many elements have become targets of regulatory agencies. In the latest artillery fire, the Ministry of Justice seems to be interested in Roblox.

In taking legal action against Apple, Epic Games requested a change in App Store strategy and enabled Epic to operate its own third-party app store. Among them, Roblox is proposed as an application that seems to be favored by Apple. According to the .NET report, the Roblox mentioned by Epic and the reasons behind it are obviously worthy of closer scrutiny by the government.

During the trial, Epic stated that Roblox was given a valid free pass when it existed in the App Store. Epic believes that because Roblox allows users to create games and use game currency to sell in the application, it is actually acting as a limited application market, violating Apple’s regulations on digital application stores.

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Epic’s reasoning is that since Roblox provides a game-like experience, it should also be allowed to open a game store. Apple stated that Roblox did not violate the rules of the App Store because “some experiences in Roblox, from a review point of view, [Apple] will not treat them as games.” After this distinction, Roblox updated its website, removed the word game and renamed it experience.

The Department of Justice has apparently been investigating the matter, including asking Roblox about the difference between gaming and experience, and Roblox’s decision behind changing the wording of the website. Other developers have also been asked about the impact of Apple Arcade and whether they have encountered problems with app store rules.

If the Department of Justice can prove that Apple is selective in enforcing its own rules in order to cause problems for potential rival companies, these findings may help support a broader antitrust case against Apple. Although Epic and Roblox have attracted the attention of the Department of Justice, they are not the only ones complaining about Apple’s application of its rules.

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