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The Video Game Corporate War: Epic Games vs Apple and Google

ultimanecat

Arcane
Joined
Mar 19, 2015
Messages
575
Epic decides that Fortnite money beats multi-billion dollar smartphone business money:
The company behind Fortnite is daring Apple to shutter its game on iPhones
It’s Epic versus Apple in an antitrust battle … royale.

The company that owns Fortnite is making an in-your-face challenge to Apple: We’re not going to obey the rules you’ve set for your powerful App Store. And we dare you to do something about it.

It’s a fascinating standoff between a very profitable, highly valued gaming company and one of the most powerful companies in the world. The way it plays out could have consequences for Apple, its tech rivals — and antitrust regulators.

Epic Games, the North Carolina-based developer behind Fortnite and other games, announced on Thursday morning that players who want to buy Fortnite’s virtual currency no longer have to buy it via Apple’s App Store. Instead, they can buy it directly from Epic. The difference for players, however, is that Epic will charge them 20 percent less if they buy the currency from Epic instead of Apple.

It’s a small change that’s a big deal because Apple has explicitly prohibited developers from promoting these kinds of end runs around its powerful App Store. Instead, Apple wants developers to sell their digital goods within its marketplace, where it takes a cut of up to 30 percent for each purchase.

That stance has long upset developers, who argue that Apple’s fee is too onerous and gives its home-grown products a leg up on competitors by essentially letting Apple sell its own stuff with a much better profit margin. Apple sells its music service, for instance, for $10 a month; if a rival music service sold subscriptions via Apple’s store for the same price, it would have to fork over as much as $3 of that to Apple.

So, over time, some big players, including Netflix and Spotify, have stopped selling subscriptions to their services from the Apple App Store altogether. You can use Spotify and Netflix on Apple devices, but if you want to pay for them, you have to visit those companies’ websites. Spotify has also filed a complaint with European antitrust regulators, who are now investigating Apple’s policies.

Apple has also drawn attention from US lawmakers like Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has said the company is trying to “lock out” competitors. Last month, Apple’s policies came under fire when CEO Tim Cook testified at a congressional antitrust hearing.

And in the past few weeks, Apple’s App Store policies have also generated conflict with both Facebook and Microsoft, who complained that Apple was barring gaming services they wanted to distribute through the App Store.

But no developer has done what Epic did on Thursday, broadcasting that it wasn’t going to play by Apple’s rules. For the time being, if you try to buy 1,000 “V Bucks” in Fornite, Epic will ask you whether you want to spend $10 to do so via Apple’s store or $8 to do it from Epic:

epic_direct_pay_apple_app_store_2045x979_730033169.png
Epic Games
Epic explained the move to its users by describing it as new “discount pricing.” But in a post aimed at the media, the company went out of its way to point out that it was defying Apple’s 30 percent tax, as well as a similar one that Google’s app store also charges.

“Apple and Google collect an exorbitant 30% fee on all payments” for virtual goods, the post said, pointing out that Apple doesn’t collect a similar fee for real-world goods developers like Amazon, McDonald’s, and Uber sell via Apple apps. “Epic direct payment simply offers players the same kinds of payment options as these other apps.”

While Epic’s move affects both Apple’s and Google’s app stores, Apple is the company that clearly rankles Epic CEO Tim Sweeney, who has been complaining about the company on Twitter for weeks.

So now Sweeney is making a very big gamble. He’s daring Apple to either back down from its stance or shutter Fornite’s Apple app and see what millions of Fortnite players do next. In the worst case, the company seems to be thinking, it can survive with a player base that comes from other platforms, like gaming consoles and PCs.

While Epic doesn’t have the same kind of awareness of big tech players like Facebook and Amazon, the company certainly has the capacity to fight Apple. Epic says it generated earnings of $730 million last year on revenue of $4.7 billion; much of that money came from Fornite, which Epic says has 350 million players worldwide.
 

mk0

Learned
Joined
Jun 28, 2020
Messages
113
One fat guy who feels entitled to using the other fat guy's platform without having pay for it or follow its terms, this antitrust case makes no sense to me. I guess when you have enough money and negotiation power, you can push for whatever bullshit you feel like.
 

BlackAdderBG

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Apr 24, 2012
Messages
3,045
Location
Little Vienna
Codex 2013 Codex 2014 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Grab the Codex by the pussy Codex USB, 2014 Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker
I see Apple removing Fortnite from it's store and showing the middle finger to Sweeney and his chinese friends. No matter how shit all of them are it's Apple's shit and they can charge what they want.
 

ultimanecat

Arcane
Joined
Mar 19, 2015
Messages
575
Really not sure what the end goal is here; Epic fucked off of Google Play Store for a year before deciding to just put Fortnite back up without getting any sweetheart deal. Now they’re flat out breaking the rules Apple and Google have set hoping for something to happen? If Netflix and Disney aren’t getting special deals from Apple, how is your meme game played by 12 year olds getting one?
 

V_K

Arcane
Joined
Nov 3, 2013
Messages
7,714
Location
at a Nowhere near you
I see Apple removing Fortnite from it's store and showing the middle finger to Sweeney and his chinese friends. No matter how shit all of them are it's Apple's shit and they can charge what they want.

Apple isn't some China fighter or consumer advocate bro, there's no good guys there.
While it would be perfect if this debacle could somehow fuck them both, I'd be at peace with either one of them fucking the other too.
 

Markman

da Blitz master
Patron
Joined
Dec 31, 2002
Messages
3,737
Location
Sthlm, Swe
Serpent in the Staglands Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Its just reeks of a well coordinated PR stunt.
Did they lose alot of players or what?
Its gonna be back in a week or two, 1-2 billion/year even after Apple takes its 30% racket money is better than 0.
 

Alfgart

Augur
Patron
Joined
Feb 7, 2006
Messages
390
Divinity: Original Sin 2
And now Epic is suing Apple lol

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/13/tech/fortnite-apple-store-removed/index.html

Fortnite's maker is suing Apple after the game was removed from its App Store

(CNN Business)The maker of Fortnite is suing Apple after Apple blocked the wildly popular online video game with hundreds of millions of registered players from its app store Thursday.

Apple said it had removed Fortnite from the platform as Epic Games was violating the tech giant's guidelines by announcing a way for players to buy in-game currency without using Apple's proprietary payment systems.
It quickly became clear that the suit was not a spur of the moment decision by Epic, or a simple response to Apple's move. The complaint ran to 60 pages, and one of the lawyers on it was Christine Varney, who ran the Justice Department's antitrust division during the Obama administration. And then Epic added insult to injury, releasing a video parodying Apple's iconic "1984" ad, casting Apple in the role of villain.

[...]
I hope both of them lose. Shit companies
 
Last edited:

Perkel

Arcane
Joined
Mar 28, 2014
Messages
15,810
A clear case of "No matter who wins, we lose.". Some lawyers will make bank with this.

?? More like we win. If Apple wins then nothing changes. If Epic wins it means companies could sell stuff without paying 30% on DLC etc.

Google one will probably fail but Apple one has some chances. Remember that Apple does not allow for third party stores. In Kwanzania it might hold but EU will for sure be on Epic side on this.
 

Drakron

Arcane
Joined
May 19, 2005
Messages
6,326
No, it wont.

They got kicked out because they broke the TOS, its not illegal because this is like you selling your house but not wanting to pay the real estate agency the commission for being listed or the agent (yes, they take a commission), worst they deliberate broke the TOS and only are suing because they were kicked out, they didnt sue Apple for the TOS but only because they were kicked.
 
Joined
Jan 14, 2018
Messages
50,754
Codex Year of the Donut
The argument they'll most likely make is that Apple has a monopoly on content distribution channels via the appstore.

No, it wont.

They got kicked out because they broke the TOS, its not illegal because this is like you selling your house but not wanting to pay the real estate agency the commission for being listed or the agent (yes, they take a commission), worst they deliberate broke the TOS and only are suing because they were kicked out, they didnt sue Apple for the TOS but only because they were kicked.
Not quite. It would be like selling your house but not wanting to pay the only real estate agency that exists.
Yes you can make the argument that they could simply not target Apple's platform, but they make up a sizeable market share and the court most likely wouldn't find that to be a reasonable argument.
There's a good chance the court will find the TOS to be unfair and therefore worth as much as toilet paper.
 

Viata

Arcane
Joined
Nov 11, 2014
Messages
9,885
Location
Water Play Catarinense
Create service.
Tell people they can sell their products on your service as long as they pay you some % of it.
People sign the TOS and start selling their product.
People then get mad and try to bypass your service by not following the TOS.
You kick them out of the service.
People claim you have a monopoly on your own service.
:prosper:

So... why is not Epic allowing devs to sell their games on Epic Store for free again?:shitposting:
 

Ismaul

Thought Criminal #3333
Patron
Joined
Apr 18, 2005
Messages
1,871,807
Location
On Patroll
Codex 2014 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech A Beautifully Desolate Campaign My team has the sexiest and deadliest waifus you can recruit.
May they jew each other good.
 

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