Epic Games Has Paid Over $100 Million in Legal Fees to Fight Apple's App Store Rules

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

define Monopoly.

a board game in which players engage in simulated property and financial dealings using imitation money. It was invented in the US and introduced in 1933 by Charles Darrow; a forerunner of the game had been patented on 5 January 1904 as ‘The Landlord's Game’ by Elizabeth J. Magie.

 

[falkon-engine]

Sometimes things simply boil down to the principle of the matter.

 

[RebeccaL]

If Epic just followed the rules just like everybody else. The AppStore is not their store. They have to follow the rules or get out.

If they had, they would have made tons of revenue. Plus spend zero in legal fees.

 

[Macalway]

Moral of the story:

Become a lawyer.

 

[frownface]

Spotify's complaint led to the first regulatory investigation into the App Store. The EU antitrust investigation started before Epic filed suit against Apple.

That's true; unfortuantely it was years before EU ended up fining apple over it; and by that stage the Epic case had come and gone in a very public way.

 

[Graphate]

I‘ve said it before: Sweeney isn‘t only in it for the money.
The guy‘s on a mission and fighting this (at least partly) out of some intrinsic motivation.

Hard to say with him, he certainly has his quirks but equal ability to develop amazing software. I wonder how much of it is hindsight and how he’d do things differently knowing he would have to spend over 100,000,000 to lose the opportunity at 1,000,000,000.

define Monopoly.

Well someone else already defined the game… so this is probably an ok place to start.

monopoly

www.law.cornell.edu

 

[frownface]

If Epic just followed the rules just like everybody else. The AppStore is not their store. They have to follow the rules or get out.

If they had, they would have made tons of revenue. Plus spend zero in legal fees.

“Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”​

― Steve Jobs

 

[djphat2000]

That's either a fantastic rage-bait comment or extremely ignorant, it's clever enough that I can't tell. This decision benefits (virtually) the whole industry, not just Epic. Tim fought this for his own benefit but also on behalf of every developer that doesn't have the money to fight Apple.

And lost.
It's not rage bait or ignorance. It's a legit question. If you develop for a company. That company HAS TO MAKE A PROFIT off your and others work. Otherwise, it well... Doesn't work does it. If it's for a business of course. Not a charity. For EPIC, clearly they had the money to deal with the potential loss. Just to gain the ability to add a link out?

For all other game companies that DID NOT pull an EPIC. They are going to be fine. Since they didn't leave the platform to prove a point. I'm not even mad at Spotify for going through the courts and making a little bit of noise in the process. Because they did not deny the end user the ability to continue to use the service. Which is what EPIC should have done. Make your case, and prove it one way or another. Let the end user enjoy the game.

Let's face it, he's got to make money too. That's what it was always about. More for EPIC. Had Apple given EPIC some kind of special treatment. We may never have gotten to this point. I don't think Apple lost any iPhone/iPad sales over Fortnite leaving. Same can't be said for EPIC.

 

[31 Flavas]

Lack of monopoly? They literally monopolized payment methods and made it impossible to circumvent. And yes, I hope this extends to every walled garden store out there.

So why was Google found to be the monopoly and not Apple? Are you going to claim ignorance or a biased - paid off judge on Apple's case? And Google just got a hack of a boomer judge that doesn't understand that Google actually allows sideloading?

 

[Mr. Jenkins]

The service job safe in this economy, lawyers.

 

[EM2013]

I’m sure they’ve made more by rehashing the same game while using others IP’s to sell

 

[DaveN]

The Epic store. They need to allow add on sellers free access no matter how large the developer. Basically the same terms they demand from Apple.

 

[mwd25]

So as a developer. You think it's best for his company to lose a billion dollars in revenue that could be used to hire more developers and research & develop MORE games, tools, etc?

I personally don't know when losing a billion dollars was pocket changes. I must be living in high inflationary times...
😨

You know I was thinking along those lines as well. With the "totally unfair" app store rules,by Epics own admission, they made $300 million in two years. Not really a fight worth having imo. Particularly when the EU has ended up coming out with all their rules. I am not opposed to people being allowed to pay for and install an app from somewhere other than the app store. I don't think Apple should have to allow companies to advertise that on Apples platform. Samsung cant place ads next to their tv's at wal-mart informing customers they can buy the tv cheaper direct from Samsung.

 

[psingh01]

So why was Google found to be the monopoly and not Apple? Are you going to claim ignorance or a biased - paid off judge on Apple's case? And Google just got a hack of a boomer judge that doesn't understand that Google actually allows sideloading?

Because google has >90% of the online ad market. iOS is like <30% of the mobile market. It’s no where close to being a monopoly.

The side loading of android has nothing to do with what their monopoly is about anyway. It’s two different markets: Advertisement and mobile platforms.

iOS competes with Android that has twice the market share. They are the alternative. Don’t like how apple runs iOS? Go to android. The competing and dominant alternative. iOS being an Apple product doesn’t mean Apple has a monopoly of iOS. Its just their product. Not the entire market.

 

[0rangeSwan]

all paid for by the Chinese to weaken Apple.

 

[0rangeSwan]

All every developer and creator can say is THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU we will use the money to make more great apps!

Yeah like that’s gonna happen lol

 

[B-Mc-C]

By my math, they are out $800 million ($100 million in legal fees plus $700 million of the $1 billion they believe they would have made after giving Apple their 30% cut). Now they’re hoping to collect 12% of other developers’ sales, and not imagining anyone else will be able to undercut them by offering the same thing at an even lower fee.

 

[segfaultdotorg]

They need a GoFundMe. It will take eleventy billion dollars to win the fight.

 

[flexwithmarius]

As a developer (and user) I'm grateful for Sweeney's efforts. It's a shame Apple can't accept the decision and continue to behave like a petulant child throwing a tantrum.

I’ll consider your opinion when you run a major platform that others would LOVE to rip to shreds for their own financial benefit and you welcome it with open arms.

 

[0049190]

Likely will be reversed. The lack of monopoly makes this a curious place for government intervention. What's next, the X-Box store? Playstation?

Hopefully yes then maybe the price of the games for those platforms will start to come down.

 

[0049190]

“Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”​

― Steve Jobs

It’s a shame Tim Cook is non of those things.

PS Why does my iPhone autocorrect keep charging Tim Cook to Tim Can’t. It makes me smile every time.

 

[I7guy]

Hopefully yes then maybe the price of the games for those platforms will start to come down.

I doubt it. The devs will pocket the difference between cooks iOS App Store and Sweeneys alt store.

 

[0049190]

I doubt it. The devs will pocket the difference between cooks iOS App Store and Sweeneys alt store.

I was referring to the price of Xbox and PlayStation games, but you’re probably correct that iOS apps and games won’t come down in price. I don’t have a problem with that. The app developers do all the hard work and deserve the rewards.

 

[Naraxus]

Epic & Spotify...two rotten peas in the same pod both led by scuzzy, freeloading CEO's.

 

[Naraxus]

Yeah. Allowing monopolists to use their market position to stifle competition is never going to be good for tech jobs in the long term.

Once again, Apple is not now, nor has it ever been a monopoly.