• by Joe Mandese , August 17, 2020

To help draw attention to Apple's "monopoly" control of the App Store, and the fact that it has blocked one of the most successful recent video games -- "Fortnite" -- from being distributed on it, Epic Games late last week began circulating a video borrowing from -- and paying homage to -- Apple's very own "1984" spot.

The spot, directed by Ridley Scott -- which aired only once during the Super Bowl that year -- is perhaps one of the most famous commercials of all time.

Apple used it to draw attention to the fact that it was about to strike a blow to IBM's then seemingly monopolistic control of the personal computer marketplace by introducing the Mac computer.

Epic said the spot was created "in retaliation" for Apple blocking "Fortnite" "from a billion devices," and encouraged followers to go to a microsite to "join the fight to stop 2020 from becoming '1984'."