Apple and Roblox Issue as Part of DOJ Investigation

Ethan James 09 Dec 2021

The complaints about Apple monopolization politics are increasing right now. Since 2019, DOJ has been testing the antitrust issues concerning Apple. It seems that some company’s competitors are in a profitless position. The main reason lies in Apple rules, which look harmless at first sight. Among such game developers is Roblox that has recently become quite popular among kids. There are a lot of mini-games, and you can even create your own game and share it with others. When there was an Apple vs Epic legal battle, it became known how Apple treated Roblox.

During this process, Epic mentioned that Roblox is a platform with many games, which goes against Apple rules. In addition, Epic claimed that Roblox should have its own game store. Apple didn’t agree with this statement. When their battle passed, Roblox changed the name “game” to “experience.” Though there was no particular reason for this, the developers explained that this term described their metaverse development.

It doesn’t look like a coincidence, so Roblox might have fewer opportunities to increase its platform potential. This case might not be the only one. Roblox has been in the center of attention for some time, and that’s why the issue became public. Therefore, we might expect other small game platforms to suffer from Apple's politics. However, the fact that Apple provides its rules is not enough evidence for an antitrust violation.

DOJ reported that Apple might face an antitrust lawsuit in some time. They lack evidence right now, but new complaints have appeared recently, and it’s not known how fast DOJ will manage to make the whole investigation public. What do you think about the Roblox and Apple issue? What might change in the future? Please leave your insights and remarks in the space provided below!