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Epic Games steps up Apple fight with EU antitrust complaint

reuters.com

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Re: Epic Games steps up Apple fight with EU antitrust complaint

#281

Post by FlownScepter »

KillahBhyte wrote: post #259
FlownScepter wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A quick Google says iOS' market share is 14%. I don't understand this position at all. Google is by far and away the market leader. Their ecosystem is free and you can do just about anything in it. Their Play store's standards are utterly bare bones. The devices are cheaper. If what you want is an open source (ish) platform that you can hack on, modify, install software yourself, whatever, all of that is available to…

THIS! Say it a little louder for those in the back. I work in IT. I do not want to have a mini IT project in my pocket that I have to fiddle with. I want a device that is dependable above all else that I don't have to work on for my everyday driver. This is the same answer I provide every time someone at work ask my why I carry an Apple phone. To me the curation is part of the draw. I know that this phone will requir…

I actually have a Mac too, but I also have Bootcamp configured because Mac doesn't do everything I need. I'm just like, what do I need to do right now, and what's the most reliable tool for that job?

My phone, ultimately, is communications and quick research. I need it to make calls, send messages, send emails, and use the browser. And off-duty, I use the camera to capture memories. I got the big one because I wanted the bigger screen (though ultimately I miss the smaller size one I had before, so that will likely change whenever I get around to replacing it.)

And I also do projects. I build 3D printers, I play with Pi's, I build PC's. I do all kinds of tinkering shit. I just don't feel the need to do it on my phone, and therefore what are cited as "limitations" of it are just irrelevant to me. It does everything I need it to do, and more.

Android and iOS in my mind aren't really even in competition. They're two very similar products that should appeal to two entirely different userbases. They're pickups and sportscars, both great for what they do, but utlimately trying to have a pickup that's also a sportscar just means it's probably going to be lousy at both.

Re: Epic Games steps up Apple fight with EU antitrust complaint

#282

Post by ekianjo »

afavour wrote: post #264
ekianjo wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You install those yourself you know. I'd rather have a choice than not. yes and No. When some games are "exclusives" to a certain store, if you want to play such games you end up having to install every store in existence which is not very consumer friendly. It would be better for stores to have every game possible, just like at the time of good old physical retail. It's not like there were Wallmart exclusive games…

> When some games are "exclusives" to a certain store, if you want to play such games you end up having to install every store in existence Then don't! You don't need that game. If you and other gamers want to make a stand against the crazy number of stores just refuse to install them. Unless you do that the store owners know your complaints aren't going to amount to a thing.

> Then don't! You don't need that game

I think you fail to understand conflicting interests. Devs and Publishers do everything to hype up game releases, and Store Owners buy exclusivity to bring people to their platforms. Even if I restrict my own choice, my vote ultimately does not matter: these perverse incentives are at play, and make life suck for every end user involved.

Re: Epic Games steps up Apple fight with EU antitrust complaint

#283

Post by cryptonym »

zepto wrote: post #177
cryptonym wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So I kind of hope that the EU allows third party stores, but allows Apple to place curation constraints on the sort of purchases that are available to users. If we follow the logic of Phones providing access to a market that must remain "free" and allow competition, then constraints on purchase might be something decided by society/people/governments more than a single private company?

> then constraints on purchase might be something decided by society/people/governments more than a single private company? This is the worst possible (and likely) outcome. Stores lose the right to determine what goes in them, but an expensive government scheme replaces that.

This is literally how it's implemented in the rest of the world: store owner cannot list items that are restricted, by law. Sotres can determine what goes in them, under constraints decided by society/people/governments (law).

Re: Epic Games steps up Apple fight with EU antitrust complaint

#284

Post by zwily »

dkonofalski wrote: post #246
simion314 wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think EA created a game store because it feels parasitic that Valve could take 30% of your sells, why not make your own store and keep the 30% . What I would do is force EA to put their games on all stores, then on their own store they can give you a 25% discount because they don't have to pay the tax. Then people could decide if they want store A, B or C version. If the store tax would be low enough there would no…

It's not parasitic of Valve, though. Valve created the storefront and platform that has all of those customers baked into it. EA is not just paying 30% for the privilege of selling their game, they're paying for the customer base that they haven't had to work to establish on that platform.

s/Valve/Apple/g

Re: Epic Games steps up Apple fight with EU antitrust complaint

#285

Post by jaegerpicker »

throw_away892 wrote: post #207
jaegerpicker wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a pointless statement, does Epic have consumers back? LOL hardly. This lawsuit is about Epic cashing in on Apple's work. No one believes Apple the corp is the defender of the people. Apple is great on privacy compared to all the other options, not because they are good people (they may not be or they may be who knows?) but because it's in their best interest to be. This is about two corp's fighting over their…

How you don't see Epic's move as a win for Apple users is ironic given how pro-consumer you seem to perceive Apple to be.

Epic's move has 0 to do with consumer's. It's only about Epic benefiting from Apple's platform.

Re: Epic Games steps up Apple fight with EU antitrust complaint

#286

Post by jayd16 »

rebuilder wrote: post #217
dubcanada wrote: post #184

I can hardly wait to use Amazon App Store to install Amazon and then open up the Epic Game Store to install random game and then open up EA Game Store to install random game and then open up Facebook App Store to install Facebook and then open up the Apple App Store to install the Blizzard App Store to install Hearthstone and then go back to the Apple App Store and update the Blizzard App Store so I can get the lates…

Optimistically, someone will make a metastore that provides search across all the different stores. Sure, you'll have to sign up for each separately, but that should be a one-time deal. I mean, we kind of had that already before "software" became "apps" - the WWW where any publisher could sell their software on their very own website, free of interference.

You could use Apple sign in! Oh the irony.

Re: Epic Games steps up Apple fight with EU antitrust complaint

#287

Post by sheepdestroyer »

n42 wrote: post #265
curiouser2 wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah what the hell is this person talking about? How do they think software was installed prior to Steam?

yeah! don’t they remember the glory days and freedom of choice to wait in a virtual line on GameSpy to download the bandwidth limited patch from version 1.4 to 1.5 only to realize they’re on 1.2 and there is no delta patch from 1.2 to 1.4 so they can either try again with the full upgrade for 1.x to 1.5 which is about 10x the download size or they can get each incremental patch from 1.2 to 1.3 to 1.4 to 1.5? come on.…

Softwares can auto update and hide the process to the user without the need for a store.

Re: Epic Games steps up Apple fight with EU antitrust complaint

#288

Post by rbtprograms »

abakker wrote: post #208
mhh__ wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pragmatically, I don't care, because no one who owns a Tesla is using it as their sole access to a computer (similarly with playstation). Many people now only use an iPad or iPhone these days. In an ideal world I would force them (I probably wouldn't for a Tesla because diy software on a car...) to have some basic ability to load programs.

Ah, the software Robin Hood, here to help the little guy understand how to best use their own computer... This is such a HN comment it hurts. Many people use iPhone and iPads as their primary devices because everything is easy and it all works. side loading apps is just not a concern that people outside of HN even have. This lawsuit is about Epic trying to not pay the same fees as everyone else not some giant ethical…

This is exactly the point I've been making to my friends who think like the commenter you replied to. "Forcing people to have some ability to load programs" is exactly why so many people use Apple products; because it's extremely intuitive for non-technology inclined people to use.

Re: Epic Games steps up Apple fight with EU antitrust complaint

#289

Post by ekianjo »

rbtprograms wrote: post #270
ekianjo wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You install those yourself you know. I'd rather have a choice than not. yes and No. When some games are "exclusives" to a certain store, if you want to play such games you end up having to install every store in existence which is not very consumer friendly. It would be better for stores to have every game possible, just like at the time of good old physical retail. It's not like there were Wallmart exclusive games…

I highly doubt that devs are the ones who make the decision to put everything behind the walled garden of an entirely separate app store. Although I would agree that devs do shoulder some of the blame for relying on electron and other such technologies for building these things.

> who make the decision to put everything behind the walled garden of an entirely separate app store

Devs or Publishers, but devs can also self-publish when they are indies anyway. Epic Store is famously buying timed exclusives - we have seen ShenMue 3 for example exclusive for one year on EGS depiste a kickstarter campaign where they promised a release on Steam on Day 1. Devs/Publishers were clearly to blame there: they decided to ignore their supporters and go for the big bag of Epic money instead.

Re: Epic Games steps up Apple fight with EU antitrust complaint

#290

Post by random5634 »

dubcanada wrote: post #184

I can hardly wait to use Amazon App Store to install Amazon and then open up the Epic Game Store to install random game and then open up EA Game Store to install random game and then open up Facebook App Store to install Facebook and then open up the Apple App Store to install the Blizzard App Store to install Hearthstone and then go back to the Apple App Store and update the Blizzard App Store so I can get the lates…

It's even worse, a lot of the app stores are going to want to leverage violation so privacy, security, auto-billing etc to generate at least short term margin at expense of trust in overall apple ecosystem.

Right now I'm PRETTY sure I can't get screwed by a random subscription. Having played with some of the others, definitely not true elsewhere.

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