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Epic direct payment on mobile

epicgames.com

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Re: Epic direct payment on mobile

#151

Post by fenomas »

sawaruna wrote: post #92
fenomas wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Does this mean Epic will start allowing users of the Epic Games Store on PC to directly pay game developers and bypass the EGS cut? Are you asking whether Epic will start "allowing" people to buy PC games via direct purchase or steam or twitch or GOG the way they've been doing for decades?

No, I'm asking if they will allow people to buy digital PC titles on EGS via direct purchase to the developer and bypass the percentage EGS takes. People are bringing up digital currency or IAP, but if Epic is arguing for 'direct payments in all apps', why would this be limited solely to digital currency and not the digital item itself?

> I'm asking if they will allow people to buy digital PC titles on EGS via direct purchase to the developer

People can already buy PC titles anywhere they like. EGS, direct purchase, steam, GOG, twitch, whatever. There's nothing to allow.

Re: Epic direct payment on mobile

#152

Post by buzzy_hacker »

owenwil wrote: post #123
gutnor wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm scared of that though. Although on one end I would like to buy my kindle books straight from the app and play xcloud games, I'm thinking of the dodgier companies. Right now I have little to worry about when I leave my kid playing a game, all the payment need to go through Apple or at least the offending app will not stay up for too long. I want Apple to be forced to come up with a fairer solution (eg: same api, b…

Wha? There are ways around this. Apple could just build sanctioned support for specific payment gateways (e.g Stripe/Adyen) and subject them to rules as a part of the app review process in the same way they are now. It doesn't need to be binary; it's just that they want to paint the picture as if it'll be a wild west of payments if they have to change that, even though they have the power to build safer alternatives.

That’d be an improvement over a monopoly, but still an oligopoly.

Re: Epic direct payment on mobile

#153

Post by meheleventyone »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #100
gamblor956 wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Epic doesn't pay Sony and MS 30% for console purchases, as both companies negotiate arrangements with big studios that lowers the rate.

Still, it does create a bit of a contradiction. We don't know what Sony and Microsoft charge, but we can reasonably assume it isn't zero, and it's also probably more than whatever Epic pays for their internal payment processing. Epic could still turn around and say "well, the price would be even lower if not for Sony and Microsoft," but I'm not sure how much they want to piss off the console manufacturers, who—all th…

AFAIK Sweeney isn’t against stores taking a cut he just sees the 30% as egregious.

V-Bucks whilst costing nothing to create are exchanged for things that did cost money to create and as a means to fund the existence of the game itself.

Re: Epic direct payment on mobile

#154

Post by La1n »

u10 wrote: post #52
chrismeller wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn’t that usually how monopolies start? They don’t lure you in with the slogan “you can only get it from us now”... The competition today is great, but they could easily become the next App Store tomorrow. I don’t personally have a problem with Apple taking a cut - they are doing work, after all, but I think it should be more along the lines of covering the transaction fees and less “we’re taking a third of your har…

The competition is broken, Steam still has a large majority of the marketshare, and they abuse it just like Apple does. Taking a cut is fine, but 30% margin is unconscionable and I applaud anyone that tries to break that paradigm.

>they abuse it just like Apple does.

But on my PC I can buy games at other places too, I just prefer Steam due to convenience. It's very different than having to buy your games on a platform from someone specific.

Re: Epic direct payment on mobile

#155

Post by alexeldeib »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #110
gutnor wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm scared of that though. Although on one end I would like to buy my kindle books straight from the app and play xcloud games, I'm thinking of the dodgier companies. Right now I have little to worry about when I leave my kid playing a game, all the payment need to go through Apple or at least the offending app will not stay up for too long. I want Apple to be forced to come up with a fairer solution (eg: same api, b…

All Apple has to do to fix this is allow sideloading. They don't need to change the App Store's rules—they can make them more stringent, actually—and you can set up your child's phone to block non-App-Store installations. Heck, Epic would probably cave and accept the cost to keep Fortnite in the App Store; they tried to go around Google Play, and it seemingly didn't work out.

From the original article, this also sidesteps google play.

Re: Epic direct payment on mobile

#156

Post by MiguelHudnandez »

gutnor wrote: post #102
theli0nheart wrote: post #9

This puts Apple in a very tough spot. Last week, Tim Cook was questioned in an antitrust hearing re: Apple's anticompetitive practices (along with Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Sundar Pichai). The spotlight is already pointing right at them, so any move they make here is going to be noticed by lawmakers. If they remove Fortnite from the App Store, Apple will probably be seen as the bad guy. After all, Epic is not…

I'm scared of that though. Although on one end I would like to buy my kindle books straight from the app and play xcloud games, I'm thinking of the dodgier companies. Right now I have little to worry about when I leave my kid playing a game, all the payment need to go through Apple or at least the offending app will not stay up for too long. I want Apple to be forced to come up with a fairer solution (eg: same api, b…

Amazon has already stepped over the line a little bit with their Audible app. Months ago they made it possible to redeem your credits in-app instead of prompting you to use a web browser to do that.

Re: Epic direct payment on mobile

#157

Post by Wowfunhappy »

coldcode wrote: post #101
epaga wrote: post #3

My money is on Apple cracking down hard on this. It looks clearly as if Epic remotely activated this direct payment option, thereby bypassing Apple's App Review. Apple will not take kindly to this. Best case scenario for Epic (and Fortnite players): they invite Sweeney in for some hard negotiations. Worst case: Fortnite ends up getting removed from iOS for this.

Pull it is exactly what I would do. Apple gets a cut of the paid apps, but $0 from free apps who show ads. Take away getting a cut from the paid apps then free apps suddenly cost the developers money—no more free apps. Imagine going to Walmart and telling them what you want them to give you all the revenue. Walmart will tell you exactly what they want to pay you, or you can leave. Maybe 30% is too much, but 0% is a t…

> In the old days before the web I had to pay up to 70% for distribution for my apps.

In the old days it cost your distributors much more to distribute those apps. Charging $1 for 99¢ of work is okay; charging $1 for 10¢ of work is not. With competition, this is rarely a problem, but no one can compete with the App Store—short of creating an entirely new OS and getting everyone to port their apps.

Re: Epic direct payment on mobile

#158

Post by spanhandler »

theli0nheart wrote: post #9

This puts Apple in a very tough spot. Last week, Tim Cook was questioned in an antitrust hearing re: Apple's anticompetitive practices (along with Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Sundar Pichai). The spotlight is already pointing right at them, so any move they make here is going to be noticed by lawmakers. If they remove Fortnite from the App Store, Apple will probably be seen as the bad guy. After all, Epic is not…

As a user, I'm torn. I want to see enough pressure put on Apple that their app store cut is reduced, and ideally (though somewhat unrelated to this) the store experience for users improves.

But I definitely don't want to see more stores or payment methods for digital goods on my i-devices.

Re: Epic direct payment on mobile

#159

Post by krisgee »

coldcode wrote: post #101
epaga wrote: post #3

My money is on Apple cracking down hard on this. It looks clearly as if Epic remotely activated this direct payment option, thereby bypassing Apple's App Review. Apple will not take kindly to this. Best case scenario for Epic (and Fortnite players): they invite Sweeney in for some hard negotiations. Worst case: Fortnite ends up getting removed from iOS for this.

Pull it is exactly what I would do. Apple gets a cut of the paid apps, but $0 from free apps who show ads. Take away getting a cut from the paid apps then free apps suddenly cost the developers money—no more free apps. Imagine going to Walmart and telling them what you want them to give you all the revenue. Walmart will tell you exactly what they want to pay you, or you can leave. Maybe 30% is too much, but 0% is a t…

My god, Apple requiring a price for apps would be best thing that's happened to the mobile environment in AGES.

I'm a mobile game dev and I would sacrifice a child to go back to the days when people would pay 0.99 for a game.

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