Roblox Corp (RBLX.N), an online gaming platform, said on Thursday that Apple Inc’s (AAPL.O) App Store provides privacy and security benefits to its customers, bolstering Apple’s bid to win a landmark antitrust case against Epic Games.
Epic, the maker of the “Fortnite” video game, lost a trial last year over whether Apple’s app developer fees and payment restrictions were anti-competitive. It filed an appeal with the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
“Apple’s process for review and approval of apps available on the App Store enhances safety and security, and provides those apps greater legitimacy in the eyes of users,” Roblox wrote in a legal filing on Thursday.
Roblox was a big part of the first trial, which took place last year. The Department of Justice (DOJ) is looking into major disclosures from Apple’s antitrust lawsuit with Epic Games, in which the producer of “Fortnite” claimed that Apple had given Roblox a free pass since their app allows users to choose from a variety of games to play.
Roblox’s offering is termed as “experiences” by an Apple senior director. Roblox soon altered its website’s descriptions from “games” to “experiences” and rebranded as a metaverse enterprise.
Apple claims that its policies provide users with various benefits, including enhanced security and privacy. On Thursday, two former directors of the Central Intelligence Agency and 21 other former US national security officials argued in favour of Apple. The hearing on the appeal is scheduled for next year.
Roblox is a Roblox Corporation-developed online game platform and game development system that allows users to design games and play games produced by other players. The platform, which was built by David Baszucki and Erik Cassel in 2004 and published in 2006, supports user-generated games of many genres that are coded in the Lua programming language.
Roblox, both as a platform and as a company, was relatively modest for the majority of its existence. Roblox began to develop fast in the second half of the 2010s, and the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated its expansion.
Roblox is a free game with in-game purchases accessible in the form of Robux, a virtual currency. Roblox had over 164 million monthly active users as of August 2020, including more than half of all American children under the age of 16.
Roblox has garnered mostly excellent reviews from critics, however, it has been chastised for poor moderation, microtransactions, and reported child exploitation activities.
