Epic Games Asks Court to Allow Fortnite Back on the App Store

[amartinez1660]

if i offered a free game on the Playstation store and tried to bypass Sony's cut, Sony would remove the app too. but Epic doesn't want to talk about that.

I seriously don’t get the downvoted and disagreements on your comment.
Come on guys, his statement is clear... when you disagree please enlighten us and state clearly several things:
- why epic is not talking about PSN, Switch and XBox stores (and Walmart, GameStop, etc gift cards or similar for that matter)
- is the AppStore is such a sucky crappy Orwellian place, why the insistence of wanting to be in it?! They should be actually be fighting to NOT be in it.
- why they don’t, then, follow Blizzard’s footsteps? Online store, multiplayer backend, everything done by themselves... they said “we don’t want to be on other stores because they suck” and they did exactly that. Quite successfully.

 

[I7guy]

People have complained about Apple's walled off garden approach for years. If they offer the App Store as an option, but don't block sideloading for companies who choose to go that route, then fine. But Apple has created a very tight parameter for how you're able to engage with the device you own. Good on Epic for going against this system, and all of you should be encouraging this as a way to hopefully open up the choice to use your device how you best see fit.

Nobody is stopped anybody from using their device as they see fit. A person who is an Apple customer however and wants to use an iPhone with iOS, has to use the iPhone as apple has provided the software. A court of law hasn’t invalidated that use case. A person who wants openness and the freedom for endless customization there is android.

To knowingly buy the phone knowing the parameters and then complain about the parameters is folly.

 

[amartinez1660]

I thought they took their ball and went home. What happened to Mr. I‘m too good for this?

Exactly, like I said in a previous comment, if the AppStore is too bad and horrible and outdated and distopian and 1984ish... it is quite masochistic to ask to be put back in there, stick to your words Epic.
As game engine dev I like them a lot, quite the game changers on that front... but this? It’s making me mad and the crowd that support it too. Starting to become vocal about to shut all these punks up, get a grip guys, the situation is clear now.

 

[robertcoogan]

And hopefully Epic will lose that case as well.

 

[Jgltno]

People have complained about Apple's walled off garden approach for years. If they offer the App Store as an option, but don't block sideloading for companies who choose to go that route, then fine. But Apple has created a very tight parameter for how you're able to engage with the device you own. Good on Epic for going against this system, and all of you should be encouraging this as a way to hopefully open up the choice to use your device how you best see fit.

but this is exactly why I got into the Apple ecosystem? If I wanted to sideload or have 5-6+ app stores to download from... I would go with an android. Many Apple users know what they are getting themselves into when buying into Apple’s walled garden. Have we not considered the mess of the app stores android offers? Call me crazy but I like the option of just going to the Apple App Store, downloading an app, and trusting that it will work.
Just an opinion 🧐

 

[amartinez1660]

the only way to get  to change their greedy ways is to sue them in court. Fortnight is epic's sacrificial lamb to get the ball rolling.
This lawsuit isn't about epic getting a better cut in the app store but bringing to attention that the whole business model of the App Store is "illegal" and wrong. They're not suing just for them but also for the thousands of iOS developers who've been ripped off too.

Ok, I’m good with this changing the 30% cut and rules taken by Apple, Google, Sony, Nintendo, Xbox, Steam, etc... and for the physical stores like Walmart, GameStop, etc which is way over that 30% plus store preferential placement extra fees. Which according to you, it’s also illegal (I’m no expert at laws, don’t know how it has been like this for decades for some of them).
HOWEVER, if this backtracks to pre-AppStore days where it was impossible for an indie developer to distribute anything because all the cost would be run by the dev himself and sometimes hitting hundreds of thousands of dollars for distribution costs... then I’ll be incredibly mad as the independent developer I would like to become one day.

 

[duervo]

I thought they took their ball and went home. What happened to Mr. I‘m too good for this?

Their bluff was called, so this is their next move.

Pretty silly, IMO. I said it before ... I don’t believe this is going to turn out the way Epic thinks it will.

They can easily move the V Bucks purchasing to a browser-based storefront, like Amazon did when they moved Kindle eBook purchases from the Amazon app, to the Amazon website.

There is also the bit where they previously accepted Apple’s terms and conditions, and for years were fine living with them. The courts won’t be blind to this bit either.

Meanwhile, Epic has used their customers as unwitting pawns in this, and are continuing to try to use them in this latest move.

 

[cmaier]

People have complained about Apple's walled off garden approach for years. If they offer the App Store as an option, but don't block sideloading for companies who choose to go that route, then fine. But Apple has created a very tight parameter for how you're able to engage with the device you own. Good on Epic for going against this system, and all of you should be encouraging this as a way to hopefully open up the choice to use your device how you best see fit.

Yes, we should all be thrilled at the prospect of breaking the ios security model just so our devices can be like android devices, which we could have purchased if we valued “freedom” over security.

 

[wbeasley]

Apple already said they would welcome Fortnight back.. just go back to the old version. Simple.

But that's not the sob story then.
And if they back down now, they will never be able to do it again since they know the outcome.

100% of 40% playing still... hmm, epic loss, epic fail, epic stupidity.

Someone said Epic wanted to set up their own store. Guess then they would want to leverage all the other games that use their Unreal engine onto it. What % do you think they were planning on charging developers to be on that store? 30% would be the final kick in the butt.

 

[brand]

Apple should go ahead and publish the old version of the app that does not violate the rules just to see how Epic responds. You know Epic wouldn't be expecting that.

 

[matt_and_187_like_this]

Yes, we should all be thrilled at the prospect of breaking the ios security model just so our devices can be like android devices, which we could have purchased if we valued “freedom” over security.

Have you heard of MacOS? It's an OS by Apple, the iPhone company, and it does exactly that.

 

[cmaier]

Apple should go ahead and publish the old version of the app that does not violate the rules just to see how Epic responds. You know Epic wouldn't be expecting that.

Apple wouldn’t have permission from epic to do that.
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You don't seem to know how MacOS works.

Yes i do. Which is why macos isn’t nearly as secure as ios.

 

[amartinez1660]

At this point, is there anyone in the general public who is sympathetic to Epic here?

Excellent comment, just extracting this part...
Tons, judging by the twitter mobs, news anchors, the dislikes on quite reasonable comments, the likes on YouTube Epic’s videos, the dislikes on anti epic sentiment ones. The world is backwards.
Another user said it right, if someone wants a FB store to download Facebook, a google store to download chrome and gmail, a Microsoft one for outlook and teams and PowerPoint, etc etc... juggle with tons of loggings and passwords and emails and separate updates, then by all means that person should grab its own butt and put it in the already existing platforms that work exactly like that.

Me, as an Apple platform user, I pretty much like the things auto updating on their own, from a single place, synchronized between devices, auto sync for the right device version (iOS, iPadOS, Watch AND MacOS), etc etc... and I’m really not liking people that don’t even use it wanting to change that, what the hell.

 

[mike9449]

Maybe EPIC could LOWER their fees, then Apple's cut would be less. That would show Apple! </sarc>

 

[Analog Kid]

People have complained about Apple's walled off garden approach for years.

Which is why nobody should have been under the illusion that Apple's policies were going to change. Epic knew Apple's approach when they invested in developing the game, they knew Apple's approach when they began distributing the game through the AppStore, all of Apple's customers knew it when they purchased their devices, and they knew it when they downloaded Fortnite.

Nothing has changed in the ecosystem for years. There's no reason to suddenly start complaining now.

 

[Abazigal]

People have complained about Apple's walled off garden approach for years. If they offer the App Store as an option, but don't block sideloading for companies who choose to go that route, then fine. But Apple has created a very tight parameter for how you're able to engage with the device you own. Good on Epic for going against this system, and all of you should be encouraging this as a way to hopefully open up the choice to use your device how you best see fit.

This hasn’t stopped Epic from suing google as well.

 

[MalkieSans]

Apple have completely lost the plot. I wish Epic the very, very best in all of their legal proceedings.
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The more I hear about Epic, the more I start to hate them.

Same, but for Apple.

 

[amartinez1660]

Comment section full of people who have their entire life savings in Apple stock desperately trying to justify Apple's anti-competitive behaviour.

For god’s sake, please, go ahead and read the comments, objectively.
First, it’s just not Apple, it’s any store they decide to break the rules on.
Second, if it is so bad, they should beg the court TO GET OUT of the AppStore, not IN. And Sony’s, and Nintendo’s and everything. And follow Blizzard’s style of business actually, all their own.
Also, many reasonable comments about this not being about some actually realistically issues with the AppStore, it’s about Epic wanting to breach contract, period.
There’s been no comments about Apple stock, Apple is losing already too on this, that 30%. Don’t like Apple? Nor it’s store? And want a separate store for each single product and app? Go ahead, change platform, me I’m quite ok with how things are running currently.

 

[BritishApple]

I’m no fan of Epic and think Fortnite is garbage but I’m glad someone is standing up to Apple. The decision to not allow XCloud on iOS is another monopolist move, made funnier by the fact Apple arrogantly think Apple Arcade is a competitor to it.

 

[burgerrecords]

I am requesting analogies to convince me that my opinion is wrong

 

[Yojimbo007]

“explicitly prohibiting any competitive entry". Can a comment be more delusional and twisted!!? with Millions of 3rd parth games on the platform.. the very same platform countless developers have made millions and even billions on.

Take your spoiled BS somwehre else Epic... !!! Im loosing more and more respect for you guys by the day !

 

[portland_bill]

Article mentions Epic, there follows a clown show of first grader arguments in favor of Apple.

every darn time.

 

[Wags]

Since when does any company have to do business with everyone. So Epic is demanding to do business with Apple at the rate they want to choose. Wow.
bizaro world

 

[Analog Kid]

Epic Games says it was willing to challenge Apple [because] "it was better positioned than many other companies to weather the storm."

Epic mentions that it's "likely to suffer irreparable harm"

We're doing this because they can't hurt us, please make them stop hurting us.

 

[sully54]

Apple has made it clear that there is a path for Fortnite to be back on the app store: For epic to either remove direct purchase option or add IAP while their case moves forward in court and a ruling is made. This is also the ruling that the judge made last week.

Epic must understand, they filed a case against Apple and are due damages if they win. This is how the law works. If it is found that Apple is being anti-competitive, then they will get their money back and Apple would be forced to change their policies. But until a ruling is made, the status quo (Apples existing policy on IAP) stands.