Relatively unscathed this summer, the gaming industry could very soon be plunged into the economic tug-of-war between the United States and China. Suspected of sending the personal data of millions of Americans to China, TikTok has already paid the price.
The social network is still on probation in the US, while a compromise is under consideration — involving a structural relocation of TikTok on American territory.
The dispute is far from over between the two countries. Trump's administration is now looking into the video game companies, including Riot Games (League of Legends) and Epic Games (Fortnite).
Chinese firm Tencent owns 100% of Riot Games and 40% of Epic Games. According to Bloomberg, the two publishers may be forced to provide Trump's government with specific information about their online data security protocols. For the US, the challenge is obviously to dispel the fear of data leakage to China.
Aimen Mir, former chair of CFIUS, had previously told Bloomberg that the Committee had been interested in sensitive data about Americans' health or finances, as well as data issued by government employees. He also explained that the Committee has since broadened the spectrum of data under scrutiny considerably.
Original content by Romain "Zorg" Becquelin.
The latest consequence of the conflict between Apple and Epic Games is that Fortnite's Save the world mode can no longer be updated and played on Mac.
