Epic Games Storefront - A Good Incentive for Piracy
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Break
Golden Baronet of the Realm
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I felt that way about Uplay and Origin which I hardly ever use anymore, but Epic store is actually better for developers no? Doesn't steam take a 30% cut and Epic only 15%? The Epic store UI is trash though, complete, utter, trash.
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You might not like what kind of precedent the latter sets. At least in the short term. China has their grubby hands in all the pies.
Vorph
Silver Baronet of the Realm
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I'd go one step further: make the rules for Chinese companies doing business in the US exactly the same as the rules for foreign companies doing business in China.
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meStevo
I think your wife's a bigfoot gus.
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Apple on Tuesday shot back in its legal battle with Fortnite creator Epic Games, filing a response and counterclaims alleging that the gaming company breached its contract with Apple, and seeking an unspecified amount in damages.
www.cnbc.com
Apple doubles down in fight with Fortnite creator Epic Games, seeks damages for breach of contract
"Although Epic portrays itself as a modern corporate Robin Hood, in reality it is a multi-billion dollar enterprise that simply wants to pay nothing for the tremendous value it derives from the App Store," Apple says in the filing.
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Lithose
Buzzfeed Editor
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The response to this is to tax the balls off Chinese app stores or ban them outright on the national/governmental level, like Tik Tok--its not to support Apple/Google's monopolistic trust practices.
That's the thing (not you, but others in this thread)..we've become so used to nationalism being something 'evil', most people assume we can't use the exact same nationalist strategies China regularly uses on us to fuck us over. Its almost obscene how brainwashed Americans are anymore in terms of using nationalist protections to combat bad actors. Do people really think China hollowed out our markets because their plants/factories ran so much better? No. In most cases American companies were competing against not just an opposing company but also the full government of China. The lack of action from the U.S. government should have enraged Americans, but instead we had a series of sell outs in office that pretended like we had no power to respond on any level but the corporate level.
Asking Apple and Google to fight China is essentially asking corporate America to take over for the American government (Which is why these corporations have grown so wildly powerful, too)...Its okay to tell Apple and Google to fuck off, and then tell your GOVERNMENT to protect them from an OPPOSING GOVERNMENT. Don't use corporations to fight governments--that's a lose, lose for everyone involved.
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Vorph
Silver Baronet of the Realm
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As much as it pains me to agree with anything Apple says, this does seem to be exactly what is happening.
This is what infuriates me more than just about anything these days. Somehow we got to the point where nationalism = white nationalism = white supremacy = literally Hitler, and saying you're a patriot means you're planning to go join a militia in Montana.
LiquidDeath
Magnus Deadlift the Fucktiger
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This is not what is happening, though. Epic derives no value whatsoever from the App Store. They are merely forced to go through the App Store as a portal to the iPhone. If users could sideload Fortnight onto their iPhones bypassing the App Store entirely, then they would do so and Epic would lose absolutely nothing in the process.
Fuck Epic, and fuck Tencent. Also, fuck Apple too. Fuck them all. They are all using monopoly to further their bullshit. But lets be honest about the situation. Apple is rent-seeking to an astounding degree and they are getting called out on it.
Lenas
Trump's Staff
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Absolutely not true. Many users, especially Fortnite kids under parental controls, simply won't install apps that aren't through the official storefront. I'm not saying that Apple deserves 30%, they certainly don't, but to say that Epic gets no value at all from being in the Apple/Google stores is ludicrous. It's like getting shelf space at a Walmart or Costco.
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Vorph
Silver Baronet of the Realm
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What Lenas said. Epic benefited to a massive degree from Fortnite's exposure on Apple/Google stores and trying to weasel out of the contracts they signed now that they think they have enough retarded kids hooked on their digital crack to go it alone is ridiculous.
I do agree that Apple should not be allowed to completely block sideloading apps though. That's where they are far more draconian than even Google is, and it crosses the line into antitrust violations imo. If Epic really believes they could sustain profits through 100% sideloading, that should be their prerogative. That's not what they are suing for though--the lawsuit demands that Apple be forced to host their app on the store while Epic cuts them completely out of the loop for payment processing and revenue.
I do agree that Apple should not be allowed to completely block sideloading apps though. That's where they are far more draconian than even Google is, and it crosses the line into antitrust violations imo. If Epic really believes they could sustain profits through 100% sideloading, that should be their prerogative. That's not what they are suing for though--the lawsuit demands that Apple be forced to host their app on the store while Epic cuts them completely out of the loop for payment processing and revenue.
LiquidDeath
Magnus Deadlift the Fucktiger
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I get that argument for no name companies, but if Epic had a verified app store available on the iPhone than it wouldn't matter for Fortnight. When I say sideload, I'm referring to any process that isn't the official App Store, and not just any old unverified site. So Epic specifically has next to no use for the App Store, while many smaller publishers likely do derive value from it.
Lenas
Trump's Staff
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Apple's rules don't allow competing stores, that's kind of the point. Epic is forced into the Apple store just to have access to the 1.5 billion devices on the platform.
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Ukerric
Bearded Ape
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In fact, that's exactly what happened with the Google Playstore issue. Fortnite used to be an external APK you had to install from Epic's site. Then, they moved to the Playstore to increase the number of downloads. And now, they want it both ways.
Which is why I want their suit against Apple to succeed and their suit against Google to fail.
LiquidDeath
Magnus Deadlift the Fucktiger
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I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.
That is exactly the practice that the courts should strike down. It is monopolistic bullshit and clearly anti-consumer. It is the specific part that I want Epic to win against, even though I am entirely against Epic and their Chinese backed bullshit.
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Vorph
Silver Baronet of the Realm
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Epic also wants Apple (and no doubt Google as well, should their motion succeed vs. Apple) to be forced to reinstate Fortnite on the app stores immediately, and without Epic removing the external payment processing. They filed a motion for a preliminary injunction asking for exactly that on Friday.
Epic's suit should be tossed for simple breach of contract, and the government should deal with any antitrust violations by Apple or Google separately. If that benefits Epic in the long run, so be it.
What do you mean by 'verified'? Apple/Google shouldn't have to 'verify' anything about a third party competitor, which is what Epic would be at that point. If they want sideloading, it's the wild west and they would need to convince people it's safe to install, deal with all the fake sites that would pop up trying to get people to download infected versions of their app, etc. on their own. Just like how it works on Android now.
LiquidDeath
Magnus Deadlift the Fucktiger
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Verified as in by Epic themselves distribute it as free of viruses. I could give a fuck if Apple or Google verify stuff outside their store, I'm just absolutely against purchasing hardware that is then locked to the user by monopoly practices. Apple has been breaking the law for a long time and it is disgusting the government has let them continue to do so for the entire life of iOS.
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Ukerric
Bearded Ape
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Not going to happen. They would have to demonstrate irreparable harm, which might be the case if Epic's existence was tied to that product (that is, if Fortnite missing on App Store would lead Epic to bankruptcy. Which of course isn't the case, or they wouldn't have done the Apple trolling).
As a side fun effect if Apple ends being told that they need to allow competing App Stores to exist - I'm fairly sure China would immediately create their own, entirely managed in-house, then tell Apple that they need to REMOVE theirs from Chinese iPhones.
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I didn't realize they had as big of ownership in Epic. I thought is was around 20% not 40%.
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