Epic Games’ Bad Luck Continues: Next Battle Against US Government

It seems that the demon of bad luck has completely latched itself on Epic Games. Since last month, Epic has been caught up in a legal lawsuit because of violating Apple’s store policies.

In it, Epic secretly rolled out an update for Fortnite, in which players would be able to conduct in-game transactions directly with Epic.

This update essentially bypasses the payment method that was set up by Apple and Google for their app stores, which led to them removing the game from the store.

Epic then filed a lawsuit to protect its rights, calling the removal an act of “antitrust.”

However, Apple would have none of it, as they threatened Epic for removing their developer accounts, meaning that Epic won’t be able to develop games for Apple’s operating systems.

But now, it seems that this lawsuit is the least of Epic’s problems, as the US Government might strike them down completely!

After successfully targeting Tiktok and WeChat, Trump’s government has now set its sights on different game developers.

Basically, The Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS) has issued a notice to Epic, Riot, and Blizzard, inquiring about the security protocols involving US citizens’ personal data.

Many may have already noticed that all three of the companies mentioned above are Chinese, with Tencent having a large stake in Epic, with a little bit in Blizzard as well.

Not to mention, Riot is owned by Tencent, so it makes sense for the three companies to be interrogated by the US government.

According to one report, Tencent US assets amount to approximately $22 Billion.

So, if the conglomerate gets struck down further than it already has and is prevented from doing business with other firms, the amount of loss it will incur might as well be unimaginable.

Considering how this played out before with TikTok and WeChat, Epic Games may need to switch gears, put the issue with Apple on the sideline, and try to deal with the monolithic problem in hand.

But, honestly speaking, the chances of Epic making through this plight unscathed are slim to none. Regardless, let us wait and see how it all plays out!