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Fortnite for iOS and macOS Will No Longer Be Cross-Platform When New Season Launches
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Seems perfectly clear to me. Stamping their feet and crying didn’t work, so now Epic are taking their ball and going home.
Update: There may actually be a better reason.
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I'm an adult casual Fortnite player on iOS. I enjoy the game but it has been boring for about 1/2 a year now and I have been barely playing it. I don't spend money in their store so they are making no money off of me... but I really don't care if they disappear. I'll find a more fun, newer game to spend my time... and potentially money on.
That's coming out of the 30% of the people that pay! And Apple gets free apps for their phone.
There are. They can buy an Android. No one is forcing anyone to buy Apple products. There are choices.
Could someone explain why the city bike app isn’t blocked from the App Store? I downloaded the city bike app to ride a bike and discovered there is no option to sign up and pay in app. The only way is to be done on a web page. Basically Apple gets 0% cut from anyone who pays to use citi bike.
So how is the owners of citi bike not penalized for evading the Apple 30% tax?
So how is the owners of citi bike not penalized for evading the Apple 30% tax?
I don't think the Apple Tax applies to tangible goods. Just electronic content... ebooks, in store currency, etc. That is why Apple doesn't get a cut of ride sharing, food delivery, or things you buy on Amazon that are physically delivered.
Doesn't have to offer in app purchases. The kindle app is on the phone but you can't buy books through it or the amazon app. But you can go to the amazon website and buy books to read in the kindle app on your phone.
When I subscribed to spotify I did it through their website. Apple doesn't get a cut of that either.
Except anyone with a clue about FTC antitrust consumer protection laws knows it's not that simple.
https://www.ftc.gov/about-ftc
digital item - 30 percent tax in app for first year and 15 percent after that.
Your bike is physical item so no need .
The risk is that people might find DuckDuckGo as a viable alternative. Once you start losing the marketshare, it's hard to go back. Billions to Apple is insurance.
But I see your point. And they've already stopped paying for Firefox to be the default search, despite Firefox still having some sizable marketshare in the browser market.
Unless Epic relents on its direct payment option, Apple will on Friday terminate the developer account that is apparently used to develop and codesign Fortnite for both iOS and macOS. (The TRO issued Monday evening only prevents Apple from terminating Epic's other developer accounts that weren't directly involved in the breach of contract.) While they distribute the Mac app outside the App Store, they still won't be able to sign the Mac app, so they won't be able to ship an update after the termination without a warning that the app is from an unidentified developer, as their signing certificate will be revoked.
It's still possible to run unsigned software on macOS, of course, with a pretty simple workaround. But they probably view the warning as enough to spook users, and they appear to be standing firm on keeping a direct payment option in the iOS app. Best they could do at this point, short of relenting on their direct payment option, is to transfer codesigning for the Mac app to another developer account, but they may not be able to do this (or do so easily) for any number of reasons.
Epic is currently loving the 10% bonus they gave themselves while trying to use their customers as leverage on Apple.
I can’t wait to see their change of heart when players just stop playing Fornite. Parents aren’t going to buy their kid another device. They’ll just say play a different game.
I can’t wait to see their change of heart when players just stop playing Fornite. Parents aren’t going to buy their kid another device. They’ll just say play a different game.
Then you would understand devs on the App Store are generally *much* happier with the development experience compared the other platforms. App Store isn't perfect, but it's very dev friendly.
Why would you want to host your own app when Apple already does that for $99/year?
Facebook, Twitter, and yes, Epic Games can all easily afford to pay more than $99 or $299 a year to offset what they cost Apple in transfer costs for their free apps, which I'd estimate is probably somewhere in the eight-digits range. That alone would allow the 30% fee to come down, possibly significantly.
I just don't get why some small independent developer trying to get his first app off the ground is supposed to subsidize companies valued in the tens and hundreds of billions of dollars. Seriously, they can afford to pay much more than what they do currently.
Who can pay more than they do? Independent developers? Probably. If anything it would help to get rid of the baby's-first-app and poorly designed games built to show ads. $300 a year for a hobby isn't bad, and if you can do it for $100 a year count yourself lucky. If someone wants to make apps a career than they should first focus on understanding the rules and crafting a viable product.
Epic is going to lose and lose big if this goes to court. They are going to play themselves because I doubt even a 12-year-old will give up their precious iPhone just to play Fortnite.
Unless they can prove Apple doesn't have the right to set even an arbitrary charge (the 30% fee) for the privilege of using its sales platform, or that Apple is being anti-competitive in doing so, the court is going to find them in breach. (As I understand it, Epic has its own sales platform that they want to monetize, and I'm sure Apple's argument will be "why should the App Store subsidize Epic's own sales platform?" And Msft and Google also have sales platforms that I believe capture fees from sales of apps sold on their stores.)
Unless they can prove Apple doesn't have the right to set even an arbitrary charge (the 30% fee) for the privilege of using its sales platform, or that Apple is being anti-competitive in doing so, the court is going to find them in breach. (As I understand it, Epic has its own sales platform that they want to monetize, and I'm sure Apple's argument will be "why should the App Store subsidize Epic's own sales platform?" And Msft and Google also have sales platforms that I believe capture fees from sales of apps sold on their stores.)
Ah yes, after paying Apple their $299/yr Apple Developer Enterprise Program fee, I'm sure Facebook's scrounging the sofas in their break rooms to check for some nickels and dimes to pay their electric bill.