The PlayStation and Xbox are the real killers. They have the same policies and no complaints. It’s crazy but I expect the iOS is a bigger money maker for Epic than the consoles. Crazy.
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Epic Games Aiming to Recruit 'Coalition of Apple Critics' to Fight App Store Policies
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That would all be so great if it wasn’t basically a fascist authoritarian govt committing human rights abuses at an unbeliever pace.
If Epic is serious about it, then they can take their coalition and create a 3rd competitor between the iOS and Android platforms where the store charges 0% from developers, yes they do have the money to do so.
I believe this whole PR stunt is free advertisement to tell people that you can buy for cheaper from our online store instead of in-app.
I believe this whole PR stunt is free advertisement to tell people that you can buy for cheaper from our online store instead of in-app.
I don't know the all the details about this fight, but I hate the in-app purchase model on general principle. Paying real money so your character can wear a different outfit or whatever? F that.
What I was specifically making reference to is the "freemium" model. When the app is free or < $5 lets say but loaded up on the back end with IAPs. This is what I would call your insane monetization model.
Take Plants vs Zombies 2, I've been playing the "free" version for years and as such Apple got $0 while the dev got the ad revenue plus what ever spying they did to sell my personal info. So now I make a couple of IAPs and Apple gets a cut so that is how they fund the marketplace that is the app store. If that game had been $10 or $20, which is a reasonable cost, Apple would have gotten a one time larger cut and might be able to then have a lower commission on IAPs.
Another loose analogy... when eBay started to raise fees on sellers many people started to list items for sale at .01 but then added a large "handling" fee before the shipping. This cut out eBay's commissions and forced their hand to prevent the tactic. The owner of the marketplace is entitled to their cut and IMHO this includes any purchases made inside their marketplace.
This conundrum is what seems to be feuling the subscription model which allows developers to charge an overall higher price for an app because it seems to be a small repetitive charge. Example: if PVZ2 was a sub instead of freemium I'd be paying lets say $1/month and as was launched in 2013 (12*7=$84) which I NEVER would have paid for the game but both the dev and Apple seem happy as they get paid more that they would have otherwise.
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Apple forced every developer to use the same payment method in order to impose a 30% fees such as subscription and that can constitute antitrust law on the app store.
Guess what? The developer will be forced to increase the price substantially and the customer will be paying more due to the limitation of third party payment.
Guess what? The developer will be forced to increase the price substantially and the customer will be paying more due to the limitation of third party payment.
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Yes the do!
Here's an article that isn't quite so positive on what Epic is doing, and who they are exploiting.
The best part:
Come on now. Let's not get ridiculous here. Apple didn't 'force' anyone to do anything. If you want to play on the Apple App Store, you have to pay. Simple rules. Forced? No. Coerced? Well, possibly, but if the Apple App Store wasn't such a behemoth, would they be trying to take it down? Hardly.
Epic wants more money. They see the fees Apple charges as 'their money'. It's not. No more than the 'fee' I pay for a Starbucks coffee is 'my money'. I get something for it. Access to good coffee. Pay to play. No pay, no play. If they expect a court to rule that the Apple App Store has to be free for developers, they are barking up the wrong tree. And if a court is dumb enough to dictate that to Apple, we are all going to suffer. Judicial activism is bad, on both sides.
Apple 'forcing' developers? *sigh* So is Xcode next? Is Apple 'forcing' developers to use their kick butt development system? Where does it end? Does Microsoft get taken down for Visual Studio? Let's not get lost in the hyperbole here...
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Having read all of this stuff, it occurred to me that Roblox is effectively doing a lot of the things we are discussing, between xCloud service and the whole Epic happening, aren’t they? I mean in the iPad app, my kids can search and find thousands and thousands of user created games they can play. There are in app purchases and everything for individual games, etc. I don’t know how the money flow actually works, because I don’t allow any IAP for my kids, but they must be using Apple’s payment system for all IAP’s, but at the same time Apple can’t possibly have reviewed all of those thousands of user created games inside the Roblox sandbox ecosystem...I mean I guess we are not talking about AAA games inside of Roblox here, but the concept is the same, right? Roblox seems pretty happy with the situation...
Your choice of a phone likely takes into account many factors outside communicating. Your selection includes the App Store associated with the platform and the associated costs. When you choose a gaming platform you select it based on the games that are available on it. You could use the same argument and say that you would rather not be limited to the games or the online marketplace and the associated costs and games when you buy a gaming console. You have the option to get a call only cell phone. The other decision is the portable gaming console you are buying. Can you run a Mac application on w Windows system? A Linux application on a Mac? You can say it is not the same thing, but is it?
I don’t get this...
Epic knew the guidelines and chose to put their content on the store.
Now they want to change the rules out of their greed.
Sounds more like Tencent (A major stake holder in Epic) and owned by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) is trying to get back at Apple.
Whatever... who knows the real reason. However, the consumer loses in the end.
Epic knew the guidelines and chose to put their content on the store.
Now they want to change the rules out of their greed.
Sounds more like Tencent (A major stake holder in Epic) and owned by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) is trying to get back at Apple.
Whatever... who knows the real reason. However, the consumer loses in the end.
Meanwhile, Google just flies under the radar. They did the exact same thing as Apple, yet somehow this JUST becomes an 'Apple Issue' for the hell of it. How immature. They PURPOSEFULLY evaded the rules, and now want to whine about it.
Epic along with the CCP are going to spend millions on a PR campaign against Apple. They will get to Google but Apple is their primary target. This is payback for Trump attacking Huawei. China wants us to know that they won't take this lying down. It's funny that Spotify came to the fight since they're also affiliated with the CCP. It's all politics and of course it's dirty
WOW. Completely different and not even a close analogy. I won't waste too much time explaining, but Starbucks coffee is a Starbucks product. An Epic game is not an Apple product. Apple is forcing Epic to distribute their product through the App Store. But after you, the consumer, have left the app store and are using Epic's product and you want to buy "extras" for your product, why should Apple get a cut?
Buy a TV at BestBuy and thereafter, you must purchase all streaming and cable services and movie rentals through BestBuy at a higher price than just buying them direct. No exceptions. The only app on your TV is a BestBuy app and the only way to watch anything. You're locked forever to higher prices at BestBuy because they had a nice store and this wonderful TV on the shelf and paid for the lighting in the store, the web ads and email ads and the employees to help sell your TV. What a deal! Not.
Now you are just being silly. Starbucks markets a product. If I go to a Barnes and Noble, can I complain about the cost of the Starbucks coffee? No. Well, I can, but it won't go far. And at the grocery, can I complain about the cost of the Starbucks coffee too? I could try.
I don't have a problem with Apple's App Store. I don't have a problem paying for App Store apps. I believe, like with the American Express cards, they provide a 'service' to ME that I believe is worth the cost. If an app developer (Epic?) breaks Apple's rules, I expect Apple to protect me and if they don't/can't, I won't have a problem dropping most of the apps that I use, because MY SECURITY IS IMPORTANT TO ME, and if some obnoxious app developer wants to be a d*ck about paying for their agreements and abide by Apple's requirements, they won't be on MY iPhone, or anything else. There are NO LAWS limiting what these companies can do with MY data. I don't trust app developers that don't want to pay 'fees' to maintain a lifeguard to make sure that all their apps are free from threats to MY security. For people that want to be free and easy with their data, and what and where they do business and travel, etc, then THEY can publish their personal lives. I choose not to. Apple's App Store appears to provide, for me, protection from a lawless zone that abuses people like me.
If Apple's App Store falls, Apple will likely fall as well. There could end up being no one that will stand up to the data thieves.
I DO NOT WANT TO BE THE PRODUCT! MY LIFE IS NOT FOR SALE! I OWN MY LIFE! (At least I think I do😯)
I don't trust Epic or any other company that wants to be a 'rogue'.
But life goes on... Cheers.🍺
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That won't work, because to run the game on iOS, it has to be an app. Ebooks are just data that is read by a device or app, so in this case Amazon is simply wanting to sell the ebooks on iOS, which can then be read on a Kindle, or an app, or any number of Mac or PC book reading applications. They can sell the books direct to users on PC or Mac or Kindle, and obviously don't want to have to give 30% of revenue for every book sold via iOS, as it's an extraordinary cut to have to give up, especially keeping in mind that it's 30% of gross revenue, not 30% of profits, simply to move a few kbytes of data. And it's data that cost a lot of time and money for the Author, publisher, editors, marketing etc, to bring that book to market, but almost zero time and effort by Apple to simply host the final sale on an app on iOS. Greed gone to far, and thus the big fuss.
Also, Epic aren't dying on this hill. Their biggest markets are PC, Playstation, and XBox. Apple is a small market for games, so Epic are actually deliberately picking a fight with their smallest market, and not risking a major chunk of their revenue. If they win that, and get the government to act on platform app store lock in prices, then they can then get the government to have a go at Playstation and XBox, who both do the same with their prices. Epic's strategy is quite smart.
Companies like Spotify are too scared to join, because Apple's app store is a major market for them, and quite possibly their biggest market, so they simply can't afford to take on this fight and be cut off from their revenue.
Apple not allowing game streaming and this epic games thing are 2 different issues and are unconnected. Apple are in the wrong with the game streaming side, but Epic are in the wrong here
It’s funny how epic only take issue with Apple and Google for their stores, but not MS or Sony for the same issue there. Unless they’re hoping winning against Apple and Google then gives them precedence for doing the same to Sony and Microsoft....
you realise that consoles have many apps you can install on them too, like on iPhones and Android. I can have Skype on my Xbox, for instance. So really, the only real difference is that the Xbox and PlayStation are not portable and different physical sizes.
console developers are a bit tight lipped, but it was said that it’s about 30% on there too
Maybe. But they cared much more about their citizens during the Covid-19 pandemic than our government has about American citizens. As a result, the Chinese economy is growing again compared to a year ago, and the Coronavirus is basically eliminated from China, while we are breaking every record in the number of infected and dead.
those Chinese who are interested in improving themselves and getting more affluent are doing so without any repressions from the Chinese government or CCP. The brutal communist dictatorship is in North Korea. What you have in China is a authoritarian regime with free economy similar to the regime that exists in Singapore. There’s nothing communist left in China besides the political rhetoric. In reality, they stopped being communist a long time ago. What China is an authoritarian regime that has brought most of their people out of poverty into the middle class. That’s why they can afford iPhones, Macs, Teslas, etc.
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Time for a new article as Gibson Dunn is chosen to represent Apple against EPIC who uses Cravath, Swaine & Moore
Gibson Dunn lawyers to defend Apple against Epic Games' App Store antitrust action in the Northern District of California - FOSS PATENTS 8/18/20
The first Epic Games v. Apple court clash is presently scheduled to take place on Monday in the form of a Zoom videoconference.
If you care to remember these two lawyers firms were involved in Apple vs Qualcomm
The first Epic Games v. Apple court clash is presently scheduled to take place on Monday in the form of a Zoom videoconference.
If you care to remember these two lawyers firms were involved in Apple vs Qualcomm
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Bloomberg Opinion
Apple Faces a Well-Armed Enemy in Fortnite Battle Royale - 8/17
"The Silicon Valley giant still runs its App Store as if it’s a challenger in mobile devices. It might be about to face a serious antitrust reckoning."
Apple Faces a Well-Armed Enemy in Fortnite Battle Royale - 8/17
"The Silicon Valley giant still runs its App Store as if it’s a challenger in mobile devices. It might be about to face a serious antitrust reckoning."
Remove their developer accounts a fortnight after August 14 when Epic filed their lawsuit against Apple? Good play Apple - good play.
My opinion - if you don't want to play by Apple's rules you don't have to, but with that you can't be on the App Store. Epic knew the rules when they signed up and agreed to the terms. You can't play an Epic game unless you agree to their terms of service, so why should Apple be forced to concede to their cries?
Remove the direct payment and then you get back on the app store, simple as that.
My opinion - if you don't want to play by Apple's rules you don't have to, but with that you can't be on the App Store. Epic knew the rules when they signed up and agreed to the terms. You can't play an Epic game unless you agree to their terms of service, so why should Apple be forced to concede to their cries?
Remove the direct payment and then you get back on the app store, simple as that.