iOS/macOS ISN’T pulling in tons of revenue for them, though. This is the same company that, as the opening round of negotiations, not only publicly flouted the rules, but was predetermined about it (it was no accident) enough to have animated a response to the takedown they knew was coming. That’s not the actions of a company that sees value in that business arrangement.
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Epic CEO Tim Sweeney Admits App Store's 30% Cut Is Similar to Consoles, Would Have Accepted Special Deal With Apple
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Macs are more expensive than Windows.
Yes similar tools exist on Windows but in the past the Windows development environments like Visual Studio costed money. They offer Community Edition for free now but its under special rules.
Unity also offers a way to develop for free - https://store.unity.com/compare-plans
However, all of these APIs and tools cost the company time and money to create. So they eventually need to charge SOMETHING SOMEWHERE - Visual Studio has costly versions based on your revenue, Xbox cut leads to help improving Direct X APIs, Unity has costly tiers based on revenue which leads to improvements on their platform
So bottom line, the 30% cut and increased price of Macs eventually leads to Apple being able to CREATE and MAINTAIN these APIs and tools. They do not create them for charity. They have to pay their developers to create them and maintain them. What pays their salary?
Because the government has never filed an anti-trust case against any company where the definition of the “market” for that monopoly includes the trademarked name of that a company.
They’ve never filed an anti-trust case against McDonald’s for their Big Mac monopoly.
They’ve never filed an anti-trust case against Sony for their Playstation monopoly.
and
They’ve never filed an anti-trust case against Costco for their Kirkland Signature monopoly.
Here, fill it in yourself, it’s FUN!
They’ve never filed an anti-trust case against ”$company” for their “$company’s trademarked name” monopoly.
I just don’t understand.. Apple built this platform… etc. they can do what they please and customers can choose not to buy an iOS device… I mean, I wonder why Xbox and Sony won’t allow us to side load apps and games onto their devices…
>>At the conclusion of today's questioning, Sweeney was asked what he would do if Epic Games loses the case. In response, he said that Apple would be able to cut off Fortnite and remove Epic Games from the developer program for any reason. "We would have to live with not supporting the iOS platform," he said.<<
I'm not sure how to parse Sweeney's statement re: if Epic loses. Does he mean they're at the mercy of Apple (duh) or that Epic will abandon iOS and MacOS, or is he going to play under Apple's rules?
I'm not sure how to parse Sweeney's statement re: if Epic loses. Does he mean they're at the mercy of Apple (duh) or that Epic will abandon iOS and MacOS, or is he going to play under Apple's rules?
Because you can’t have a monopoly on your own product?
McDonald’s having a monopoly on Big Macs is ridiculous.
In context, what the judge was really asking was “if i kick unreal engine out of the developer program too, will you give in and follow the App Store rules” and his answer was “no, we’re crybabies and we will just not be in the App Store.”
The original post seems to mischaracterize what was asked, and the fact that the judge prefaced the question by pointing out that Epic had asked for equitable relief, and she had granted some by forcing apple to temporarily keep unreal engine in the developer program. Her reference to equitable relief was a reference to the fact that if you go to the court and ask the court to do something as a matter of right and wrong, you, yourself, must have clean hands and good intentions.
Agreed. I bet it really stung when he read that email referring to him as the rehearsal guy. LOL would have loved to see his expression on that one.
They need to lean into the question as to why he isn't pulling this same stance with Sony and Microsoft. He is paying them the same % and therefore way more $. Ask what factors they considered in comparing these scenarios with clearly different outcomes in posture/approach/rhetoric.
I wouldn’t doubt that there has been counsel between those companies to the effect that “We agree that we should control the platforms we create, but leave us out if it. If, beyond all sense, it gets any further, that’s when we’ll step in.” 😂
... Defends one set of corporations against the others, transcending above the masses with his perfect set of core values that makes us all look in wonder at our own utter depravity...
FYI - No one is forcing anyone to pay them money. There are other (larger) platforms. Also - The little guys are getting the 15% deal from Apple...
Epic Game Store’s advantage to a dev is if they use Unreal engine, because Epic doesn’t double dip on full store and engine fees, and they can afford to give the dev a larger cut of the store pie, as opposed to the dev putting the game on Steam where they pay full Unreal engine royalties to Epic and Steam’s cut to Valve. This is why Borderlands 3 was a success.
Just unfortuante that Epic Game Store doesn’t live up to the same features Steam has, and they have to give millions away in free games and dev incentives just to sell the platform.
The company is based in Cary, NC. "Y'all" is part of their vernacular, but that does not excuse its use in professional communication - at least not with someone who has no idea who you are.
Agreed. English suffers from not having a 2nd person plural.
And, 2nd person should not have been used in the letter.
I believe that there is a "paper" trail of Epic's internal discussion of strategy. I don't think Tim had any chance of obfuscating his real intentions.
Monopolies can be either horizontal or vertical. Apple has a virtual vertical monopoly in the Apple ecosystem but not a horizontal monopoly in the smartphone market.
This was my analogy 20+ years ago. Microsoft had the horizontal monopoly. Apple had the vertical.
The conspiracy theorist in me says "yup". Tencent doesn't own a majority of Epic but I am positive this is being done with their (and the PRC's) approval. If Epic wins, they've disrupted the business model and weakened a powerful non-Chinese corporation. If they lose... they still make crazy money and Epic takes the fall. All this is costing is legal fees & some lost profits.
I don't think one has to defend Apples' fees or commissions. Apple is entitled to it's commissions (regardless of the comments, where posters have no skin in the game). If one is so offended by the ecosystem, app store and/or operating system, management policies, there are alternatives.
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I tried Fortnite and thought it utterly sucked. I hope Apple crushes Epic, I have no sympathy for that company whatsoever.
CARY is just an old acronym for "Containment Area for Relocated Yankees". Although in recent years that containment has been demonstrably breached.
Fun fact: French has a 2nd person plural "vous"... which you must use to address a single person with respect. So there would be no way to tell whether "vous" referred to just Tim or his colleagues as well if this email was written in French.
In a sense, this adds complexity for no benefit in clarity (a French speciality), as opposed to the Spanish "ustedes/vosotros".
Well, supposedly (I don't have first hand info, and don't play Fortnite), when Epic did there backend switcharoo, the user got a choice to pay using Epic or Apple, with the Epic option being (20% I think?) cheaper. Of course, if you saw that, which would you pick? If they were to put the hypothetical "Buy from App Store" button, it would undoubtedly have the same disclaimer of paying more there, and again, who would use it? This whole ploy by Epic was just to get an extra 10% revenue from iOS users.
Perhaps one compromise would be for Apple to put in a purchase dialog that state the benefits of subscribing or paying through Apple: one place to mange subscriptions, one place to store payment data, parental controls - then give the developer a certain amount of space to make their case for going outside Apple. The first time the user does this, they get another dialog to tap through explaining that Apple bears no responsibility for third-party payment systems. Allow developers to adjust pricing to account for the Apple commission. Still require the Apple payment option be available to Apple customers who want it. This would answer the Spotify and Epic concerns. However, to unlock this functionality, the developer fee is increased to offset Apple's costs to run the store. The App Store remains the sole route to getting software on the device and the other rules, like privacy protections, remain. Sony, MS, Nintendo, and Google put similar policies in place.