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Apple to kill Epic’s accounts on Friday the 28th

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Re: Apple to kill Epic’s accounts on Friday the 28th

#131

Post by kodablah »

sircastor wrote: post #64

A lot of this feels to me like Rpic thinks they’re a bigger deal than they are. No doubt they make a lot of money, and they’ve made Apple a lot of money. I think though that their attempt to take Apple in the court of Public opinion is going to fall flat, because there are a lot more iOS users than Fortnite on iOS players.

> I think though that their attempt to take Apple in the court of Public opinion is going to fall flat, because there are a lot more iOS users than Fortnite on iOS players.

This naively assumes an iOS user is on Apple's side, and assumes that the court of public opinion excludes those users with neither iOS nor Fortnite yet have general opinions and business-stake on iOS options.

I should also note that, for some of us, the court of public opinion and the court of legal opinion are different. I can disagree w/ Apple and disagree w/ their practices being deemed illegal.

Re: Apple to kill Epic’s accounts on Friday the 28th

#132

Post by immigrantsheep »

Razengan wrote: post #55
woofie11 wrote: post #2

This clearly and unambiguously crosses the line into abuse of market power. Apple's actions before? Maybe? Sort of? Apple needed that 30 percent cut to monitor for fraud and quality or something, going above-and-beyond other payment processors. This? This has absolutely no basis in anything. It's simple retaliation designed to kneecap Epic from Apple's dominant control of a market. Apple can refuse to let Epic releas…

> Apple needed that 30 percent cut to monitor for fraud and quality or something, going above-and-beyond other payment processors. How much do Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Steam, Gog and etc. take from publishers on their stores?

Microsoft takes 5% since last year.

https://blogs.windows.com/windowsdeveloper/2019/03/06/update...

Re: Apple to kill Epic’s accounts on Friday the 28th

#133

Post by ArchOversight »

dstaley wrote: post #84
muska3 wrote: post #36

Is it bad that I hope they do kill Epic's account? Epic launches a preconceived plan with media attacks and the most ridiculous 1984 reference that actually doesn't make sense in the current context against Apple. If I'm Apple, even if this is a straight up attack on me, I just follow the rules in my TOS and block them like I do others who don't follow the TOS. If you don't like the TOS, fine you don't have to be on…

> I just follow the rules in my TOS and block them like I do others who don't follow the TOS I'm fairly sure Apple doesn't terminate the developer account simply for failing an app review. I think this is a specific executive decision based on the fact that Epic is unlikely to rectify the issue, which could be seen as retaliation.

That's what's in the Developer Program License Agreement though:

Section 11.2 Termination, subsection (f):

> (f) if You engage, or encourage others to engage, in any misleading, fraudulent, improper, unlawful or dishonest act relating to this Agreement, including, but not limited to, misrepresenting the nature of Your submitted Application (e.g., hiding or trying to hide functionality from Apple’s review, falsifying consumer reviews for Your Application, engaging in payment fraud, etc.).

In this case Epic hid functionality from Apple's review, with the intent to bypass further rules in the Developer Program License Agreement.

Apple is allowed to terminate the agreement at that time.

Re: Apple to kill Epic’s accounts on Friday the 28th

#134

Post by 1propionyl »

renewiltord wrote: post #51

I wonder what the story is behind the scenes and why Epic felt the need to make this Hail Mary play.

As noted in their initial legal filings ("if we could we would", basically), what they really want is their own app store on iOS. They want to cut out the middleman and process their own payments.

And I'm sure Tencent (40%) would be very happy for there to be an alternate App Store with the familiar Epic branding as well. Epic on its own only has one title on iOS: Fornite.

The timing of all of this is definitely strange.

Re: Apple to kill Epic’s accounts on Friday the 28th

#136

Post by davidg109 »

davidg109 wrote: post #37

Epic is trying to shine a spotlight on what they think is unfair, and I flat out disagree. They want to now sue the same company that provides them tools to develop, as if it’s some inherent right? Apple owns the Apple store, and they can choose to charge what they want. Epic can choose to raise their pricing if they feel the millions they’re already making isn’t enough.

Bring on those downvotes :) I’m looking forward to an ‘epic’ court ruling siding in Apple’s favour.

Re: Apple to kill Epic’s accounts on Friday the 28th

#137

Post by saurik »

pjmlp wrote: post #94
muska3 wrote: post #36

Is it bad that I hope they do kill Epic's account? Epic launches a preconceived plan with media attacks and the most ridiculous 1984 reference that actually doesn't make sense in the current context against Apple. If I'm Apple, even if this is a straight up attack on me, I just follow the rules in my TOS and block them like I do others who don't follow the TOS. If you don't like the TOS, fine you don't have to be on…

I also want to see Epic crash and burn, this was a PR plan from the very beginning.

If this were just Epic trying to get press as a "stunt", like a giant bluff or expecting to lose, I might agree with you... but Epic has filed the lawsuit and is certainly going to follow through on this: only an idiot does that--at such a heavy cost to their customer base, which otherwise might cause blowback--without having all their ducks in a row on basic PR. Seriously: if you want to be able to take Apple on in a lawsuit like this and win, you need to demonstrate that Apple is serious about the behavior you think is illegal and then sue them for that, not some vague idea that Apple probably wouldn't let you do something: between the two giant companies, both of which are kind of reprehensible, let's focus on this one issue and root for the correct side here.

Re: Apple to kill Epic’s accounts on Friday the 28th

#138

Post by [deleted] »

fooey wrote: post #72
zaphar wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can still play on PS4, XBox, and PC. I think Epic will be fine.

If Epic devs are running macs, do you need a developer license to run XCode? I'm not sure the repercussions of losing their Apple developer accounts, but I imagine it's not pleasant. https://twitter.com/Slasher/status/1295434558112960519 > Epic says that included in the tools that Apple will revoke is the Unreal Engine that hundreds of third party developers use. "Apple’s actions will irreparably damage Epic’s reputa…

[deleted]

Re: Apple to kill Epic’s accounts on Friday the 28th

#139

Post by hu3 »

nxc18 wrote: post #111
sircastor wrote: post #64

A lot of this feels to me like Rpic thinks they’re a bigger deal than they are. No doubt they make a lot of money, and they’ve made Apple a lot of money. I think though that their attempt to take Apple in the court of Public opinion is going to fall flat, because there are a lot more iOS users than Fortnite on iOS players.

Yeah as an iPhone user I really hope Apple makes this a very, very, example-making costly mistake for Epic.

You really hope Apple keeps charging 30% app tax and forbidding us from installing apps from outside of App Store?

Re: Apple to kill Epic’s accounts on Friday the 28th

#140

Post by username3 »

ddorian43 wrote: post #76
renewiltord wrote: post #51

I wonder what the story is behind the scenes and why Epic felt the need to make this Hail Mary play.

Apple takes 30%, in this case, like, $500M+.

Apple doesn’t always get 30%. Retailers selling iTunes gift cards get a cut. You can guess their cut when they have 15% discounts.
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