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Epic CEO: Judge's Decision 'Isn't a Win for Developers or for Consumers,' Fortnite Not Immediately Returning to App Store
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Sure they can, the judge did not say charging a fee was illegal, the ruling even said it was legal and enforcable per the contract.
Not sure all developers win if Apple changes its contract terms to require a cut of all sales, on or off the app store.
Two sperate issues - one was illegal under CA law, the other a perfectly legal contract.
Apple will find ways to make up for it form developers.
Yea, they want 100% of IAP revenue plus free access to the app store.
Isn't going to happen. The upshot to all of this may well be higher costs for iOS developers.
What are you talking about.....I have safari and Chrome and Google on both of my iDevices
This is like cutting off your nose to spite your face. You have one of the most popular games in history, and you can get back onto the App Store, and even tell people “hey, if you wanna buy stuff you gotta do it on our site!” now.
The publicity stunt failed, people don’t perceive you as a hero, cut your losses, and take a small victory.
The publicity stunt failed, people don’t perceive you as a hero, cut your losses, and take a small victory.
So now all developers will suffer the higher fees thanks to Epic and all the other big developers. 🤣
Engine, not browser itself. All of those other browsers are still working with the guts of Safari, so to speak.
Does not Apple OWN the ecosystem? Whats mind blowing is you think everything should be free.
Okay, but as a consumer, I can still use them and I always use Safari or Chrome
It seems like an overall win for Apple as the lowest friction payment option, ApplePay, is probably what people will preferentially pick. We’ll see how the likes of Epic display & label said buttons!
They poked the bear and got eaten.
As somebody who is no longer into gaming, is Fortnite still a thing? Has its time in the sun come and gone?
That would seem to then open up Apple to a new lawsuit.
"While the Court has found that evidence suggests Apple’s 30% rate of commission appears inflated, and is potentially anticompetitive, Epic Games did not challenge the rate. Rather, Epic Games challenged the imposition of any commission whatsoever. Nor did plaintiff show either that the provision of the DPLA which required developers."
So if evidence already suggests that Apple's commission is inflated, it only becomes more so when you still pay the commission, but no longer receive the services and benefits of Apple's IAP. Apple would then open themselves up to accusations of rent seeking, as those opting out of using Apple's IAP pay the same rates as those opting in.
Epic's mistake here appears to be attempting to get a free ride rather than pay a reasonable price for the ride.
Additionally, nothing indicates would Apple be entitled to a cut of purchases made outside of the app. Here's the relevant excerpt.
"The Court also notes that in the but-for world where developers could use an alternative processor, Apple would still be contractually entitled to its commission on any purchase made within apps distributed on the App Store."
This would be no different than Netflix and Spotify not giving Apple a cut for purchases not made in the app. Apple is now being forced to treat all apps like they were only allowing "reader" apps to be treated.
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If I had a dollar for every time my son asked when Fortnite was returning to his iPad, I'd have a lot of dollars.
That would be tough for Epic: If they could not properly support iOS in Unreal, that would drive developers increasingly to Unity. Less Unreal usage would decrease the pull to Epic store (with them waiving Unreal licensing fees there). That might end up being a critical blow in competition with Steam and others...
Apple would get hurt in this as well by causing lots of headaches to 3rd party developers who have built on Unreal. But it might still make sense to crush Epic just to deliver the message for anyone else considering a similar stunt against Apple.
I do not think they will do it. Instead, they will only cut Epic's own games from iOS.
Andy Ihnatko (MacBreak Weekly) will be most disappointed in this decision. He clearly wants the App Store pretty much decimated.
The good news is I'm not pretending. It really is about those things.
I want fewer entities, not many, holding my demographic data, email address, preferences, etc: Privacy.
I want fewer entities to hold my payment information and some semblance that the app I buy isn't malicious: Security.
I want to go to one store to buy what I want: Convenience.
You can handwave "App1e Fanb0yz lol" all you want but there are real reasons I choose to remain in the Apple ecosystem.
What Tim Sweeney tried to do was like if Coca-Cola sued WalMart for not letting them put a Coca-Cola brand vending machine inside WalMart from which Coke would take 100% of the profit. What he got was still the privilege of being able to put up signs inside WalMart advertising a Coke kiosk behind WalMart that sells Coke at 0.70 instead of a dollar. To be sad and defeated over that… what a sad small man.
Don’t bite the hand that feeds you, throw a tantrum because they stopped feeding you for the biting, then whine again because the world didn’t see things in the infantile way you see things, hoping everyone would get mad at the hand and force the hand to feed you despite any biting you’d like to do.
Congrats on the victory, Apple. You never deserved to get bit.
Don’t bite the hand that feeds you, throw a tantrum because they stopped feeding you for the biting, then whine again because the world didn’t see things in the infantile way you see things, hoping everyone would get mad at the hand and force the hand to feed you despite any biting you’d like to do.
Congrats on the victory, Apple. You never deserved to get bit.
I too used to think Apple cared about privacy and security. Then the CSAM debacle happened.
The judge did a great job, however, this is only a minor win for Epic. They really wanted to have their own payment processing embedded within the game not just links, or to be able to bypass the App Store, altogether.
From Apple’s perspective this will be somewhat annoying but, essentially, they have 90 days to change the relevant App Store rule and maybe come up with a new fee arrangement for apps using their own payment systems. I think they’re drinking champagne in Cupertino
From Apple’s perspective this will be somewhat annoying but, essentially, they have 90 days to change the relevant App Store rule and maybe come up with a new fee arrangement for apps using their own payment systems. I think they’re drinking champagne in Cupertino
Even though I kind of already predicted the outcome at the outset of this lawsuit, I’m still disappointed to see apple winning this round. It seems regulating big tech nowadays has become nearly impossible because they are way too powerful.
Even with other issues looming around Apple, I now can comfortably say they are way too big to fail and there will be no legal path exist to regulate their behaviour. They did whatever they wanted to be what they are today, and will continue to do whatever they want in the future. God bless.
Even with other issues looming around Apple, I now can comfortably say they are way too big to fail and there will be no legal path exist to regulate their behaviour. They did whatever they wanted to be what they are today, and will continue to do whatever they want in the future. God bless.