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Apple Terminates Epic Games' Developer Account

macrumors.com

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Re: Apple Terminates Epic Games' Developer Account

#121

Post by anonymousab »

chrisco255 wrote: post #68
jacquesm wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> just a bunch of legal departments having a fight. At the expense of the users, in both the figurative and the literal sense of the word.

Ultimately if Apple bends if will be good for the users in the long run. That's what matters. And if Apple doesn't bend, we need antitrust action against these monopolies anyways.

If Apple bends it will be to settle and cut a special deal with Epic.

They will never let it go far enough to truly threaten their walled garden.

Re: Apple Terminates Epic Games' Developer Account

#122

Post by jjtheblunt »

yyyk wrote: post #80
hnarayanan wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what metric is Apple a monopoly?

It's irrelevant whether Apple are technically a monopoly or not; Apple abuses their iOS market power to force vendors to use their payment system.

Not being sarcastic, and I'm misunderstanding what you mean: how can Apple abuse their market power over something they alone created?

Re: Apple Terminates Epic Games' Developer Account

#123

Post by CPLX »

RivieraKid wrote: post #101

I'm surprised there's no effort by companies to negotiate collectively with Apple, as one entity. A single company means nothing to Apple, the company often risks a big chunk of their revenues, Apple risks basically nothing. Surely there are things that such app developer organisation could do to make Apple change their terms? Quick idea: motivate users to switch to Android, by adding new features there first, exclus…

Paradoxically, if a group of small businesses being harmed by a monopoly get together to do something about it, they can themselves run afoul if antitrust regulation.

Re: Apple Terminates Epic Games' Developer Account

#124

Post by icebraining »

gambiting wrote: post #98
dkarp wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Epic is still the under dog here. They’re nothing compared to Apple. Even if this is all in Epic’s selfish best interest, that doesn’t matter if their interest is more aligned with smaller app developers’ interests. The balance of power is still shifted well towards Apple.

Weeeeell.....yes, except that Epic has Tencent behind their back, and while Apple is still bigger, Tencent isn't that far behind.

True, but how much is Tencent really willing to dump behind this fight? There's only so much upside for them even if Epic wins.

Re: Apple Terminates Epic Games' Developer Account

#125

Post by eganist »

nojito wrote: post #108
Voliokis wrote: post #91

What in god's name is with all the bootlickers in this thread? I have no love for Apple or Epic. But if this lawsuit leads to better treatment of third-party developers on the platform and Apple not being able to arbitrarily control what apps consumers get to download, I don't see why Epic is being painted as the "bad guy" by so many people here. Apple has been behaving in crazy anti-competitive ways (just look at ho…

They built the platform. They maintain the platform. They promote the platform. What's arbitrary about that?

They're leveraging their control of a defacto standard platform to steer business.

Android existing doesn't invalidate this claim.

Re: Apple Terminates Epic Games' Developer Account

#126

Post by stale2002 »

bitxbit wrote: post #111
leptoniscool wrote: post #24

Apple is a monopoly. When Microsoft was investigated and fined for anti-trust behaviors, it hasn't engaged in this level of abuse.

Might be an unpopular opinion but I don’t think they are acting to the level of MSFT in the 90s. What MSFT did would be equivalent to Apple forcing everyone to use its apps and not allow any competing apps. Also recall that Jobs was pretty adamant about allowing third-party apps in the beginning. Now, do I think 30% is ridiculous in 2020? Yes. But it made sense a decade ago when having a half decent working app almos…

> hat MSFT did would be equivalent to Apple forcing everyone to use its apps and not allow any competing apps

This is exactly what Apple is doing. Apple does not allow 3rd party app stores on the iPhone. They are literally preventing competitors on the platform, and forcing people to only use the apple app store.

> about allowing third-party apps in the beginning.

No, they absolutely do not allow 3rd party app stores on the iPhone. That is what this is all about. It is about Apple preventing competing app stores on the iPhone.

Re: Apple Terminates Epic Games' Developer Account

#127

Post by xphilter »

Voliokis wrote: post #91

What in god's name is with all the bootlickers in this thread? I have no love for Apple or Epic. But if this lawsuit leads to better treatment of third-party developers on the platform and Apple not being able to arbitrarily control what apps consumers get to download, I don't see why Epic is being painted as the "bad guy" by so many people here. Apple has been behaving in crazy anti-competitive ways (just look at ho…

Honestly, what is the difference between the App Store and Target? Why should a third party (or court) have any control in what the retailer sells?

Re: Apple Terminates Epic Games' Developer Account

#128

Post by Matticus_Rex »

yyyk wrote: post #80
hnarayanan wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what metric is Apple a monopoly?

It's irrelevant whether Apple are technically a monopoly or not; Apple abuses their iOS market power to force vendors to use their payment system.

That... rather shifts the goalposts, no?

Re: Apple Terminates Epic Games' Developer Account

#129

Post by john-shaffer »

n42 wrote: post #63
gameswithgo wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

people familiar with Tim Sweeny’s life and ideology know that it is an actual important issues to him that platforms be open. your cynical take is often very true but there are sometimes real human ideals behind things.

interesting, then, that he is solely responsible for introducing marketplace exclusivity deals to PC gaming.

We've had decades of exclusivity deals for one console or another. Those actually prevented people from playing the games without shelling out for an extra console.

Total War: Troy is exclusive to Epic Games Store for one year before it comes to Steam. If you got the game on its release date, Epic gave it to you for free. To play it, you need one more launcher to go along with Steam, Battle.net, GOG, and various custom launchers. What is the harm being done here?

I like Steam, but I doubt that it will be good in the long term for it to be completely dominant. It needs a solid competitor.

Re: Apple Terminates Epic Games' Developer Account

#130

Post by pier25 »

bitxbit wrote: post #111
leptoniscool wrote: post #24

Apple is a monopoly. When Microsoft was investigated and fined for anti-trust behaviors, it hasn't engaged in this level of abuse.

Might be an unpopular opinion but I don’t think they are acting to the level of MSFT in the 90s. What MSFT did would be equivalent to Apple forcing everyone to use its apps and not allow any competing apps. Also recall that Jobs was pretty adamant about allowing third-party apps in the beginning. Now, do I think 30% is ridiculous in 2020? Yes. But it made sense a decade ago when having a half decent working app almos…

You can't uninstall Safari from iOS. In fact you can't even browse the web without it as Apple prohibits any other browsing engine (Chrome, FF, etc, are using WKWebView).

I don't know the numbers but I imagine there are more iOS devices now than there were Windows PCs back in the 90s.

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