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Epic Games Sought Side Deal for Fortnite Prior to Lawsuit, Apple Says in Court Filing [Updated]
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You appear to not know the history of Epic Games (or Fortnite), since Epic has existed since the early 90s and Fortnite was a smash success before it even launched on the App Store.
You further appear to not know anything regarding antitrust law, because defining a monopoly all comes back to how you define the market. Apple may as well have a defacto monopoly for paid games, since they are the market leader in the premium price segment, which is essentially the user group that also has the financial capabilities to spend money on games. This however, would require intense debate and evaluation in court, but Apple could very well be charged for antitrust behaviour, even though they don't sell the most phones in total.
Well that’s what they wanted. To have their apps on the App Store and not pay a penny.
Maybe I’m late to the game but why is Apple the bad guy here? Isn’t google just as bad? “Google Play (apps and in-app purchases) is30% of the price the customer pays. In other words, developers get 70% of the payment”. I think both are overcharging tbh 15-20% would be enough since these giants don’t pay tax or just a symbolic sum and most small developers pay regular tax. It’s like the little people (small developers) get to pay tax twice. But what else is new? 😂. Apple/Google tax and state tax.
I would be curious to see the list of companies that Apple allow to pay 15%. Care to share that list.
Then they can leave the app store peace out
It has been the standard rate for all video streaming services since 2016...
Because on android you can side load apps. Developers can have their apps on third party app stores. On Apple you have to have an app in the App Store.
So essentially Epic is try to do what Fortnite does, go looting in very ones house... 
So, Who Will Blink / Fold First ?
Epic definitely has the weaker hand, but it will be very interesting to see how this plays out !
Epic definitely has the weaker hand, but it will be very interesting to see how this plays out !
So using your example, you think it’s cool to charge one person 150/night but another person 300/night for the same room because reasons? How about a grocery store that charges one customer 1.50 for a bag of chips but makes another customer pay 3.00 for that same bag?
You’re completely onboard with that and feel this is the behavior of a good and ethical business? Oh I’d love to hear your argument for this.
Exactly this. The closed and secure nature of the ecosystem is a huge selling point. As a dev I like it, and as a parent I like it even more.
If companies like Epic were allowed to bypass in app purchase mechanisms it also means parental and screen time controls are circumvented too with the platform becoming a wild west.
I’ve tried using Epic’s own in app payment mechanic and it not only bypasses all parental restriction and built in security, but it also has the cheek to try to setup recurring billing agreements with PayPal (if you choose it), which means that kids would be able to easily run up huge bills.
It would have been obvious that an agreement had been made if the in-app payment system was changed vs other apps.
No doubt it would be leaked which in turn would lead to subpoenas and warrants at the next hearing on the subject.
Floodgates would certainly have been opened no matter what.
Here's a great example. Hardly fair that Amazon get away with it whilst other developers are threatened to be completely wiped off the map https://appleinsider.com/articles/2...re-fee-to-get-prime-video-on-ios-and-apple-tv
Unfortunately in this case the game will essentially become unplayable soon. The next “season” is starting in Fortnite soon and if Epic can’t push the content update to their iOS app the game will stop working as it will be missing key data. It’s an entirely online game with cross play so all platforms need to be running the same code and data, it can’t work without that.
And how does that answer the question about "the list of companies that Apple allows to pay 15%" that @ChrisMoBro says exists. The only companies I am aware of is Amazon and Netflix. So who are these other companies that Apple has given a special deal to pay 15%?
Well, if you want to think “but what about the Mac” is a logical response to “Apple can't guarantee the iOS ecosystem or experience without the walled garden”, that’s fine with me 🤷♂️
It is certainly less safe than iOS. The only reason it is not even worse is that it has such a small market share. Were it 40% of the market it would be just like Android, a mess of malware and scams.
And how many “regular users” know about this side loading and the third party app stores? Isn’t that like saying people can jailbreak iOS and install cydia or whatever?
They don't need to. You won't be able to play with an old Fortnite client after the 27th, due to the upcoming new Fortnite season. 💁🏼♂️
This is not about a simple rejection. This is about Epic deliberately flouting the rules THEY agreed upon, and then suing Apple as a result.
They’re absolutely able to push new content into the app without a binary update from the AppStore and do so regularly. It is after all how they snuck in their own purchase mechanism. The binary itself is really just the game engine. It’s a similar model employed by Facebook etc