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Apple Terminates Epic Games' Developer Account

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451–460 of 1001 posts

Re: Apple Terminates Epic Games' Developer Account

#451
post #387

My feeling is that this whole situation is mostly going as Tim Sweeney intended. He was itching for a fight, wanted to sue Apple. The harsher that Apple retaliates, the better Epic's court case. Apple is playing right into his hands. Did Sweeney anticipate Apple's threat to Unreal Engine? Maybe, maybe not. But the temporary restraining order did block that threat, at least for now. I don't think Epic ever intended to…

Could you provide any info showing that Apple was definitely going to block all unreal engine powered iOS apps from the App Store? Ideally definitive evidence.

Well, how could Epic continue developing unreal engine for iOS without a developer account?

Re: Apple Terminates Epic Games' Developer Account

#452
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm actually happy Apple didn't make a small concession. I can't quite have the resources to sue Apple by myself as a small user being prevented from using the device I have paid for the way I see fit. I'm very glad that EPIC is doing it on my behalf. I'm also kind of glad that Apple didn't simply cut a backroom deal with EPIC, but is instead going the full-monty on this.

I share a different view on this. I want Apple to have as much control over as they can to keep my device safe. Obviously, this is an unpopular opinion on HN - part of me wants it super hackable and open source (my hacker self), but my average joe self wants is as tied down, closed doors as possible to avoid sniffing off my personal data, usage patterns, cookies, and a whole bunch of "soft metrics" about my device to…

You are relying on a benevolent dictator. If Apple decided to sell you out you are fucked. BTW if you are such a security fan would it be good if Apple watches which websites you visit in your browser? Wouldn't it be even better if only websites are allowed which are hosted on Apple servers on Apples own internet?

Re: Apple Terminates Epic Games' Developer Account

#453
post #463

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a stub comment to collect the replies so we can collapse them, to prevent offtopicness. Sorry, no-JS users.

I'm surprised this kind of topic inspires such discourse. I wonder what makes it different than other topics.

Both Apple and Epic are exceptionally.... "controversial" companies that people have Thoughts on.

Tie that in with the usual Software Freedoms and people wishfully thinking they one day will be in Apple's shoes.

Re: Apple Terminates Epic Games' Developer Account

#454
post #387

My feeling is that this whole situation is mostly going as Tim Sweeney intended. He was itching for a fight, wanted to sue Apple. The harsher that Apple retaliates, the better Epic's court case. Apple is playing right into his hands. Did Sweeney anticipate Apple's threat to Unreal Engine? Maybe, maybe not. But the temporary restraining order did block that threat, at least for now. I don't think Epic ever intended to…

Could you provide any info showing that Apple was definitely going to block all unreal engine powered iOS apps from the App Store? Ideally definitive evidence.

Apple was not going to explicitly block Unreal Engine from the App Store, but instead they were going to terminate a different Apple Developer Account that Epic uses for Unreal, hindering them from developing it on Apple platforms.

Re: Apple Terminates Epic Games' Developer Account

#455
post #428
post #387

My feeling is that this whole situation is mostly going as Tim Sweeney intended. He was itching for a fight, wanted to sue Apple. The harsher that Apple retaliates, the better Epic's court case. Apple is playing right into his hands. Did Sweeney anticipate Apple's threat to Unreal Engine? Maybe, maybe not. But the temporary restraining order did block that threat, at least for now. I don't think Epic ever intended to…

> I don't think Epic ever intended to release the new Fortnite season on Apple platforms. Epic probably doesn't care much about Apple platforms. 80% of Fortnite players are on console. I doubt macOS accounts for more than 1-2%. https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/newzoos-battle-royale-s...

You're completely ignoring iOS. Fortnite has been in the top 5 top-grossing games on iOS for over a year now making insane amounts via IAPs.

Re: Apple Terminates Epic Games' Developer Account

#456

This is a blunder. Epic will do just fine without Apple, but Apple is alienating people like me who use their products and are predisposed to support them. Our eyes are opening to their true nature. Full disclosure: I worked for Apple for almost 20 years.

I was an Apple fanboy until the 2011 MBP fiasco.

My top of the line MBP died aprox 2 years after I bought it. By that time there were thousands of people with the same problem on the internet. Obviously I had to buy another Mac to keep on working.

If Apple had cared about its customers it would have taken the defective machines early on and either exchanged them for new machines, or at least offered a proportion of its retail price towards a new Mac. Apple didn't do nothing of the sorts.

It took almost 2 more years and 3-4 action class lawsuits for Apple to finally start a repair program.

By that time I could't even sell the damn thing after the repairs. I ended up giving it away to a junior dev and guess what? It died a year later of the same problem.

Re: Apple Terminates Epic Games' Developer Account

#457
post #387

My feeling is that this whole situation is mostly going as Tim Sweeney intended. He was itching for a fight, wanted to sue Apple. The harsher that Apple retaliates, the better Epic's court case. Apple is playing right into his hands. Did Sweeney anticipate Apple's threat to Unreal Engine? Maybe, maybe not. But the temporary restraining order did block that threat, at least for now. I don't think Epic ever intended to…

> In the short term, Epic loses money by not having Fortnite on Apple devices.

Will they though? For all the players who already had the app they still have access to Epic's payment system meaning they're making 20% more on those transactions. I'm not sure that new user purchases will be > 20% they make in the short term from those existing users.

Re: Apple Terminates Epic Games' Developer Account

#458

One unexamined side effect of this is that Epic is no longer able to security patch Fortnite. A sufficiently bad exploit would have really interesting tradeoffs for both parties. If Apple is standing on security being the core of their offering, they'd undercut it by not letting Epic patch it. But if Apple didn't let them patch it would Epic be forced to come to terms?

If Apple wants to make their own users hostages that's their choice and Epic shouldn't bend to it. Apple has totally shattered the illusion that their walled garden model is about Security and not Control.

Re: Apple Terminates Epic Games' Developer Account

#459

Can someone who's on Apple's side here elaborate on why they think the outcome for consumers would be worse if they're forced to loosen some of their restrictions? It's very unlikely that app developers choose to forgo the AppStore since it will be driving the majority of app installs even in a completely open world for years to come. And if they do choose to forgo that distribution channel that should be seen as a v…

I don’t need apps on my iPhone to do 100% of all things that apps can do. I am fine with some restrictions, so long as there’s enough reliability, consistency, privacy and security. If there are alternate app stores, I am sure others would make their apps exclusive there and demand you download them through these stores: 1. Facebook will want a store that allows them to build an app that has no ad or data collection…

So you are against a free market. Instead of multiple shops you want one megastore. Only one webshop: Amazon Only one Social Network: Facebook Only one search engine: Google Only one OS: Windows Only one chip manufacturer: Intel

Re: Apple Terminates Epic Games' Developer Account

#460
post #2

I wish every damn micro transaction app gets removed one day. Of course no one will do it but I simply hate everything about these apps forcing parents to pay small fees for stupid pixels because their kids begs them to do it. Sorry, nothing else new to add to the topic, just venting and have absolutely no sympathy to apps tricking kids to spend money on tiny cellphone games. My niece begged her mother to buy a roblo…

Parent here. I play Fortnite with my two kids almost every night. Compared to the more ubiquitous pay-to-win style games that dominate the mobile market in particular I think Fortnite's model is pretty reasonable. Nothing you buy in the game will change your performance in any way or help you win. The game is free on every platform and there are people who play a lot without ever spending. As for what you can buy, its all just bling - stuff to make you look cool. If you pay $10 upfront and then play 3-4 hours a week you can earn enough V-Bucks playing to buy the battlepass every season and one or two small extras without ever putting another dollar into it. I'm sure some kids go crazy with it but its certainly not necessary.
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