Apple Removes Fortnite From App Store [Update: Epic Files Lawsuit Against Apple]

[bbowser12]

I want a full refund for all my usernames for every vBuck spent (4 iPads for my kids). Very dirty of Epic to use their own clients as a bargaining chip with Apple. Nowhere did it say they would be playing with our children like this.

Will they help me explain to my kids that the skins bought to add a little joy to their lives during a pandemic are now gone and cannot be ever seen again, unless daddy goes out and buys a console/platform that hopefully epic won't be removed from in the future?

 

[Solomani]

Where is the Apple Countersuit? Apple has every right to sue since Epic broke the TOS, broke the letter of the legal contract.

 

[Metrosey]

So Apple's not allowed to make money?

I'm sure Apple can afford (and should) at the very least reduce the fees to benefit developer and in turn, end consumer. Yes, you could argue that some of that money goes into improving the app store, digital back-end infrastructure, app marketing, etc, but we know Apple clearly make enough money and could argue are now charging customers/developers for such a service with no viable alternative available. If for example, Apple is making £20 billion profit within in-game transactions alone, and only actually needs £600 million to still be viable, you have to question is that actually pro consumer?

 

[Cosmosent]

If EPIC can affect positive change that would be great !

Apple's control of "App Discovery" is the BIGGER issue for most App Devs, however !

 

[johnsc3]

I'm waiting to have someone now sue Epic for not providing a way to sell within that game. If one thing has to be open, they all should.

You’re right and I’m sure EPIC wouldn’t like it.

 

[jetrois]

Is this real?

yes thats been apart of the os for years just in case

 

[colocolo]

To think people are paying more because of Apple's fees is ridiculous. You really think that's the way the set prices? "Oh, we only want $7.99, we have to charge more because of Apple."

It works the other way around: how much are these kids able to afford? If they could get away with charging $99.99, they would. They charge $9.99 not by calculating Apple's cut, but to see how much they can extort out of these delusional kids that think those items are important.
We can always discuss how much is fair that each party should earn, but to focus the discussion on the consumer paying extra makes no sense. Even if Apple paid developers an extra 50% for each item they sold, the upfront price from the consumer's perspective would be exactly the same. That much should be obvious to everyone.

Only Apple customers can be happy to pay more than necessary. I suspect all the people here who are defending Apple are actually AAPL shareholders masquerading as Apple fans.

 

[TiggrToo]

exaactly digital ownership will need to be reworked so that people can OWN again. Like with sony if they ban ur account which is within their right u lose access to YOUR PAID software. dosnt matter if its a mistake its gone. Like groove music!

And that’s your first mistake. You never owned software. You purchased a license to use it, said license usually with a **** ton of stipulations and limitations.

 

[Mal Blackadder]

PUHHHHLEASE. Charging $20 for a graphical "skin" harms the consumer too.

The consumer has the choice whether to buy it or not, they do not have to buy it, but if they do then Apples app stores policies means the consumer has to pay more for it than if they could pay Epic directly, the consumer loses out due to Apples policies.

 

[gnipgnop]

Epic is going to lose their lawsuit. They blatantly violated their terms of service agreement with Apple’s App Store, and their only excuse is that they don’t like the terms they agreed to a decade ago. Epic fail.

I don't think they have any illusions about actually winning in court. They're hoping to influence Congress and future legislation by huffing and puffing in the media about lawsuits and unfairness.

 

[Stromos]

This is the digital future folks. Nothing out there is yours, and your access to it can just go away whenever the true owner feels like it. This isn’t just an Apple thing, this is your favorite movies, shows and music too. It just takes someone getting offended, worked up, or there’s a corporate pissing contest and the customer is the one who loses. Game studios can be the worst at this, making some games entirely unplayable after so many years. If you complain, they would just say that they own the content and you can go pound sand.

Kiteo, his eyes closed!

Shaka, when the walls fell 🙁

 

[jetrois]

I want a full refund for all my usernames for every vBuck spent (4 iPads for my kids). Very dirty of Epic to use their own clients as a bargaining chip with Apple. Nowhere did it say they would be playing with our children like this.

Will they help me explain to my kids that the skins bought to add a little joy to their lives during a pandemic are now gone and cannot be ever seen again, unless daddy goes out and buys a console/platform that hopefully epic won't be removed from in the future?

how is it gone? everything is still there as part of your account.

 

[willyx]

Good. Fortnite doesn't provide third parties a way to sell within its game. Why should Apple allow them free real-estate for customers that Apple worked to build?

Apple's store. Apple's rules.

Mmmm no, Apple's rules have to follow anti-trust law. So it's not "Apple's rules" just because it is "their store".

If I create an app that purposely skirts one of the rules I agreed to adhere to when I signed the Developer Agreement, then I shouldn't expect my app to be on the App Store. This applies to every developer, and to every app, regardless of how popular an app is.

Epic. Fail.

Wow, Captain Obvious to the rescue there. Abusive terms can exist in every contract and the law ends up protecting the weak side against them, even if it agreed upon the contract. Let's see who ends up failing epically in the end, but it is not looking good for Apple: it's losing major services and building the grounds for the regulators to intervene them.

 

[Think creative]

Not using this as an excuse as all round it shouldn't happen, but Epic isn't the only brand doing it. Epic's biggest competitor and in-game cosmetic starter, Steam, do the exact same. Either way though I agree with you, the gaming market has become a 'gimme money' market, there's only a small market within the gaming market that produce passionate and artistic games.

For sure. I’m not saying just epic. eA is the worst. I buy PS games and systems now because they have good games, that have a single price (single player games). If I’m gaming I want it to be an escape with a good story or strategy game, not feel like I’m in a casino). Nintendo has a lot of games like this too, which is why I own a switch

 

[iBluetooth]

Damn, what a mistake, Epic. The amount of money they are losing right now has to be crazy.

Probably done on purpose as they had the lawsuit ready.

 

[Seend1983]

Only Apple customers can be happy to pay more than necessary. I suspect all the people here who are defending Apple are actually AAPL shareholders masquerading as Apple fans.

I don't own a single Apple share. I just have a problem people breaking and trying to circumvent agreements that they signed and agreed to, especially if that company is one of the biggest and most powerful game companies in existence. This is strictly about fighting over who's pocket the money goes into, nothing more. Epic and other developers feels they're entitled to 100% of the profit while Apple considers a 30% cut fair for policing and making the App Store possible in the first place.

 

[Wildkraut]

Ok this was the push i needed, these Apple devices are the last ones i bought.

 

[1144557]

The consumer has the choice whether to buy it or not, they do not have to buy it, but if they do then Apples app stores policies means the consumer has to pay more for it than if they could pay Epic directly, the consumer loses out due to Apples policies.

Who says Epic has to rip off customers for $7.99 their price per the screenshot then either? Why is THAT ok to begin with for some tiny visual pack? Why not $3.99? Give Apple their $1.33 and its a whopping $5.33 to consumer. Consumer still wins.

Epic is the one who set the bar so high to begin with that an IAP should be $7.99 somehow.

Choice or not, if you want regulation that gets included. Considering most of these are targeted to young folks who Epic KNOWS will make the bad choice.

Let's not forget how predatory these IAPs actually are in games and who theyre targeted at.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

this dosnt just effect apple this may have far reaching implications such as xbox playstation ect thats why it will take a while regulation wont just be apple it will effect all software stores more than likely.

Perhaps not. I don't know about all consoles, but on the Switch, you don't have to go through the eShop. It's there and it's a convenient way to get your games, but you can also just go to Walmart, Best Buy, Target, Amazon, eBay, etc, and buy the physical copy of the game from there. Or just borrow the physical game from a friend.

I believe iOS is unique in that the only way to legally acquire software from it is via an app store. Any other platform that has an online store to get software from also allows software to be added via the internet or physical media.

 

[jetrois]

I don't think they have any illusions about actually winning in court. They're hoping to influence Congress and future legislation by huffing and puffing in the media about lawsuits and unfairness.

its a good stratagy. too long big companies used legal mumbojumbo to push people around.

 

[Randompasserby]

This could be really good for the App Store and google play store, they would then theoretically be allowed to have their App Store on other platforms like PS4, PC, Nintendo Switch, and any other device that connects to the internet.

might make those platforms more costly as sometimes they sell at cost to get enough people to be on the platform

 

[jetrois]

Perhaps not. I don't know about all consoles, but on the Switch, you don't have to go through the eShop. It's there and it's a convenient way to get your games, but you can also just go to Walmart, Best Buy, Target, Amazon, eBay, etc, and buy the physical copy of the game from there. Or just borrow the physical game from a friend.

I believe iOS is unique in that the only way to legally acquire software from it is via an app store. Any other platform that has an online store to get software from also allows software to be added via the internet or physical media.

true because they havent gone all digital they want to so they can have a monopoly.

 

[Think creative]

It's tough isn't it, we the consumer have made this happen. I'm sure most gamers have used Steam and most movie goers have used Netflix (or a similar service) which promotes such actions.

This is games I love I buy on disk, and why I still buy blu Ray and 4K Disks of movies I love.

 

[Apple_Robert]

This is going to be a very expensive publicity stunt by Epic.

 

[Metrosey]

Apple should just create a paid developer tier for the cry babies where they are charged for advertising, bandwidth and server storage and charge them for their use. Fortnite was distributing a hefty sized file for free on Apples servers and bandwidth and they have a cheek to moan about a % going to Apple.

Should it be a 30 percent cut though? I'm sure 5-10 percent is viable but at the end of the day, consumers/developers are paying Apple for the application itself which likely covers these costs.