TOKYO -- Japan is investigating allegations that pressure from Apple forced Yahoo Japan to pull back from a game platform that competes with the App Store, Nikkei has learned, in the latest effort by regulators to address potentially anti-competitive behavior by American tech behemoths.
The Fair Trade Commission and the industry ministry began the investigation last fall upon receiving reports from Yahoo about issues surrounding its Game Plus platform. The web-based service, launched in July 2017, lets users play games without needing to download apps. For developers, the service features much looser restrictions surrounding sales, fees and software updates than Apple's App Store.
