Japan investigates whether Apple moved parties to ignore Yahoo gaming platform

The Japanese competition authority is investigating whether Apple abused its power by asking business partners not to work with a Japanese gaming platform from Yahoo, called Game Plus. This is reported by the Japanese business newspaper Nikkei.

According to Nikkei, Yahoo cut its budget for Game Plus considerably last year and the service is now hardly promoted. Square Enix, a major Japanese game publisher, withdrew the title of Antique Carnevale from Game Plus in April, while the game was developed specifically for that platform. Yahoo is said to have told several business partners that Square Enix was forced to withdraw from Game Plus due to indirect pressure from Apple.

The Japanese regulator believes there may be a violation of Japanese competition rules. However, the investigation seems to be stuck, partly because SoftBank has acted as a mediator in this matter, according to a source. SoftBank owns more than half of Yahoo Japan, which may have contributed to the downfall of Game Plus. The company handles payments to the Apple Store and keeps some of that money. This money flow might have been jeopardized if Game Plus had been left untouched. The main company Yahoo no longer has a finger in the pie at Yahoo Japan; the company’s past stock has been in a holding company since Yahoo was bought by Verizon.

It concerns the Game Plus platform of Yahoo Japan, a web service founded in July 2017 that allows users to stream games and play HTML5 games on smartphones, without having to download apps. This allows owners of iPhones, for example, to play games without needing the Apple App Store. The service would also be much looser than the App Store in terms of tariff rules and software updates.

In addition to Square Enix, 51 other companies are said to have signed to participate in Game Plus. Yahoo could aggregate the data of its more than 60 million monthly users to help game publishers sell merchandise and new titles through the platform. Yahoo is also said to have planned to expand the Game Plus platform over time, including into other areas, such as business software.

An employee of the Japanese regulator says that the various parties are unwilling to cooperate with the investigation, which can make it difficult to prove Apple’s abuse of power. However, he declined to comment on this particular investigation. Nikkei also received no comment from Apple, Yahoo Japan or Softbank.