Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not just a cut but 30%.
That's up there with federal income tax.
Companies pay taxes on profits, not on revenue. Google takes 30% cut of the revenue. That's quite a difference.
Google will lose $50M or more in 2018 from Fortnite bypassing the Play Store
101–110 of 219 posts
Re: Google will lose $50M or more in 2018 from Fortnite bypassing the Play Store
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
Also, what solution would there be? Allow other companies to bypass Google's revenue system in this area? How much will they lose from other companies who want to be treated equal to Fortnite. edit : This is a question folks, I'm not sure why you're down voting a question.. ya'll are touchy as hell lol. To put it differently, since I think my first attempt just confused you all in mass: If Google were to lower it's t…
>Also, what solution would there be? Solution to what?
Hypothetically, to Google getting Epic's business. Is lost customers not a problem in your eyes?
People are sitting here being pedantic about "lost" revenue, even though I said nothing about that. My point however, is that assuming Google would want Epic's business (which seems reasonable), would they gain or lose money by changing their pricing structure to fit something Epic would put up with.
Ie, if they reduced Google's take from 30% to 15% (fake numbers), would they gain or lose money? It's a hypothetical question, one which I guess I should edit since clearly everyone is arguing about random shit lol.
Re: Google will lose $50M or more in 2018 from Fortnite bypassing the Play Store
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
"$50m that google won't earn" sounds less cool.
And yet the distinction is semantically important. I hate it when economists phrase missed opportunities as losses.
Although IMHO that particular terminology leads to poisonous thinking in Economics. People start obsessing about missed opportunities because they are a loss, like that guy stole your opportunity away because he got there first.
Re: Google will lose $50M or more in 2018 from Fortnite bypassing the Play Store
#104I understand the perspective of most of the comments here. Yes, google is not really loosing 50 million bucks. But, isnt a major fraction of what would be spend on fortnite is a lost income which otherwise would have been spent on playstore? And this lost income would be significant since fortnite is massively successful?
Re: Google will lose $50M or more in 2018 from Fortnite bypassing the Play Store
#105The framing of this article feels weird to me. Google offers a service (distribution), and it just so happens Fortnite doesn't need it. It also completely ignores how much Fortnite will lose from people who don't install it because they can't figure out how. A better way would be "Fortnite is big enough to bypass Google and still make $180MM", rather than acting like this is Google's fault. I mean, the fact that phon…
>the fact that phone OSes get a cut
That's how a platform business _works_ though.
I mean we could discuss reasonable limits or something or how a platform effects competition once it's entrenched, but you're basically just saying "The concept of a platform business is an insane racket."
Do you think building a global software distribution platform is easy? Let alone the value of compounding network effects.
Re: Google will lose $50M or more in 2018 from Fortnite bypassing the Play Store
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
Anyone can provide an APK download from their website and bypass the Play Store. Unlike iOS, Android is not a walled garden. For most app developers, the ease of discovery, installation and payment provided by the Play Store is worth the 30% fee. Epic Games clearly think that Fortnite is in such high demand that it isn't worth paying the Play Store tax; Fortnite players will make the effort to find the app, install i…
Android is only a walled garden to OEMs that want to make both Google sanctioned Android phones and phones based on Android forks....
Not any more, at least not unless Google want to keep racking up multi-billion dollar fines.
Re: Google will lose $50M or more in 2018 from Fortnite bypassing the Play Store
#107"Unlike Apple, which only allows apps to be downloaded from its own storefront, Google’s platform is more open." Oh the irony. Android is more open than iOS and yet its Google that EU found to be at fault with Android. How is this not a classic example that, if anything, Android provides a more open platform?
There was nothing “open” about Google not allowing manufacturers to ship phones using Android forks if they also ship Google certified Android phones.
On the scale of 1-10 openness, that’s a -100
Re: Google will lose $50M or more in 2018 from Fortnite bypassing the Play Store
#108Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Google Play Store is outside the great firewall and therefore probably unusable in China. Phone makers aren't going to ship phones with unusable app stores, so they need to use alternatives. It's the same reason UC Browser and QQ Browser are so popular in China.
I'm curious why there aren't more app store outside China, as evidently from China example, the app store business is sustainable, and Android outside China has a bigger market.
Samsung, Motorola, Amazon, etc. have tried. The trick is to convince all the developers to publish on your app store, so the users will use your app store. They're not going to bother if the phones also have the Google Play Store. The phone manufacturers need to include the Play Store or users won't buy the phones. There is a large first mover advantage.
Re: Google will lose $50M or more in 2018 from Fortnite bypassing the Play Store
#109What's crazy to me is that the 30% fee is standardized across every app in the exact same way.
As an Indi game developer, the 30% fee is totally worth the trade for help in discovery. The play store has received about $1000, for their distribution service with my game.
But a game like Fortnite receives almost the identical service from Google and is charged 50 million? Sure some costs scale, like bandwith.... so its not exactly apples to apples, but WAY to close in my opinion.
Would Fortnite be on the Play Store if Google charged 5%, or even 10%. The real issue is the unreasonableness in this pricing structure.
Re: Google will lose $50M or more in 2018 from Fortnite bypassing the Play Store
#110It's wild how a company distributing an Android app in the exact same way that they already distribute the PC version of the same program has blown up into this huge and controversial news story.
Yes, there are no headlines saying "Valve will lose $600M or more in 2018 from Fortnite"...
https://thenextweb.com/gaming/2018/08/07/fallout-76-and-fort...
It is really impressive that these companies have been able to justify a 30% cut for running a hosting service with stripped down search engine and payment processor. It's like they say in real estate: Location Location Location.