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Apple terminates Epic Games developer account, calling it a 'threat' to iOS

techcrunch.com

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Re: Apple terminates Epic Games developer account, calling it a 'threat' to iOS

#611

Post by matwood »

hu3 wrote: post #403
samatman wrote: post #371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like Apple should exit the European market then. No one is forcing them to do business there, and it only accounts for 10% of their revenue.

Apple bent over pretty hard to stay in China [1] and they'll do the same for EU. Because if they don't, the network effects of an entire important continent without Apple's strong presence would be devastating long-term. [1]: - "Apple tells suppliers to use 'Taiwan, China' or 'Chinese Taipei' to appease Beijing" https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/05/apple_warns_suppliers... - "The problem with canceling Jon Stewart:…

Using China as a comparison doesn't work b/c Apple manufacturing is so intertwined with China. There is no Apple without China right now.

Re: Apple terminates Epic Games developer account, calling it a 'threat' to iOS

#612

Post by tebbers »

wkat4242 wrote: post #609

Ummm lol. So now sideloading is allowed (with lots of costs associated mind you) and if someone wants to use it Apple will just kick them off the platform? :') So first malicious compliance with all the inflated costs and then they don't even allow people to use it. I really hope the EU will crack down on this BS and force Apple to allow real sideloading. But anyway I've written Apple out of my life a long time ago.

There’s no way the EU allows Apple’s interpretation of the DMA after they did this, Apple really made a mistake here. As you say, how can you be sure that alternative app stores won’t just be booted off by Apple for $REASON?

Re: Apple terminates Epic Games developer account, calling it a 'threat' to iOS

#613

Post by [deleted] »

vlod wrote: post #529

Wondering how this affects Apple employees. Back in the day, working for Apple seemed cool. (Pirate flags on building etc). Previously MSFT used to be (maybe they've turned that around?) the most hated tech company (becz of their very aggressive attitudes to competitors especially Netscape). One thing they didn't FU and is represented by the infamous sweaty Balmer video [0] of him shouting "Developers, developers, de…

[deleted]

Re: Apple terminates Epic Games developer account, calling it a 'threat' to iOS

#614

Post by wkat4242 »

lamontcg wrote: post #570
andersa wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Epic doesn't care whether Apple shows "grace", or needs them to, they are going in by force with the backing of the EU legislation. It might just take a year or two longer to get through the courts. They can hold out that long without any problems, preparing their store in the background.

Yeah, its really weird to appeal to the noble intentions of a corporation. They're both just engaged in business. I can believe that Apple is acting incredibly badly in this case without needing to fluff up Epic Games at all. Apple and Samsung could sue each other and do business with each other because the stakes were lower and they were more codependent.

> Yeah, its really weird to appeal to the noble intentions of a corporation. They're both just engaged in business.

This is what's wrong with the current overly capitalist system. Companies are totally allowed to have no conscience, and externalise whatever they please to consumers and the environment. And you could even argue they are 'forced' to do so by due diligence legislation.

If we let this continue there will be no world left to fix. We have to change the game. I'm not saying we should go full communism. Capitalism isn't bad but there needs to be a balance between business and society with actual accountability (rather than the current 'green' initiatives basically just being PR without any kind of enforcement). It can't be all about money.

I think for US culture it's hard to imagine doing this but here in Europe society has always had this balance, at least in most countries. Initiatives like RoHS, GDPR, DSA/DMA are often called anticompetitive but we are actually trying to improve things for the benefit of society, not just the shareholders.

Re: Apple terminates Epic Games developer account, calling it a 'threat' to iOS

#615

Post by ceejayoz »

bevekspldnw wrote: post #428
graphe wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From it's issues I bet you it's infighting from a group trying to kill the vision pro from apple.

The fact that they went to market with a $3.5k price tag tells me they just aren’t serious about wide adoption, period.

The original Mac cost about $7k in current dollars.

I remember thinking the original iPhone was hugely overpriced, too.

Re: Apple terminates Epic Games developer account, calling it a 'threat' to iOS

#616

Post by ben_w »

m4rtink wrote: post #486
samatman wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We don't have to imagine, we have 40 years of game consoles existing.

Which is also wrong, especially given how most modern consoles are basically PCs. Just see what all you can do with Steam Deck in comparison to the locked down consoles.

I was wondering around a local store, MediaMarkt I think, and I saw a random handheld games console — two sticks, a D-pad, XYAB buttons — with the well-known video game Microsoft Excel pre-installed and visible on (I think, I'm not a Windows person) the start menu.

Re: Apple terminates Epic Games developer account, calling it a 'threat' to iOS

#617

Post by TheRealDunkirk »

hu3 wrote: post #403
samatman wrote: post #371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like Apple should exit the European market then. No one is forcing them to do business there, and it only accounts for 10% of their revenue.

Apple bent over pretty hard to stay in China [1] and they'll do the same for EU. Because if they don't, the network effects of an entire important continent without Apple's strong presence would be devastating long-term. [1]: - "Apple tells suppliers to use 'Taiwan, China' or 'Chinese Taipei' to appease Beijing" https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/05/apple_warns_suppliers... - "The problem with canceling Jon Stewart:…

What percentage of their sales does the China market represent?

Re: Apple terminates Epic Games developer account, calling it a 'threat' to iOS

#618

Post by RandallBrown »

MR4D wrote: post #97

Maybe Epic should just come out with their own Android-based phone and ignore Apple. EDIT - I don’t mean this flippantly. I really think a gaming phone made by Epic would be fantastic. They have some great games that I enjoy, including Rocket League and Fortnite. Would love to see what they could do with a phone, especially how well they did on GM’s Hummer ( https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/7/21506572/epic-games-unre…

If Microsoft would have called their Windows Phone the Xbox Phone and focused it on gaming, I think they would have been way more successful.

Re: Apple terminates Epic Games developer account, calling it a 'threat' to iOS

#619

Post by freedomben »

Workaccount2 wrote: post #335
mrtksn wrote: post #45

I wonder why Apple doesn't open up their platforms to have everything best on their devices instead of fighting and agonising developers and governments. Yes yes, the commission is nice but they might be killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. I mean, Apple is amazingly good in some areas but in some other areas their products are used only because they don't give a choice and they intent to keep it this way. Th…

If there is an anti-culture youth movement against iPhones, apple will be in serious trouble. Their revenue is heavily dependent on selling iphones and people using the app store.

Fortunately for Apple, there definitely is not a movement against iPhones. If anything, the youth associate status with iphones, and if you don't have one you are a loser deserving ridicule. My kids have stopped asking as they know I'm not going to give Apple any of my money, but for a very long time they begged for iphones because kids made fun of them for "having a droid." Today's youth are definitely not the rebellious counter-culture youth from my younger days. They are very much conformists.*

*Speaking very generally of course, and only from anecdotal experience which is a very small slice of the market that my kids know

Re: Apple terminates Epic Games developer account, calling it a 'threat' to iOS

#620

Post by johnnyanmac »

yakkityyak wrote: post #430
layer8 wrote: post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue is that Epic doesn’t want to be Apple’s customer in the first place. They want to publish iOS apps. The fact that this requires them to be an Apple customer is the core problem. Imagine if everyone wanting to publish a web app would have to be a customer of the respective browser vendors. Everyone complains about Google and Mozilla and Safari and Edge. Luckily, that doesn’t prevent us from having our web ap…

I don’t quite understand why they happily subscribe to this model with Xbox PlayStation and Nintendo, but are adamant about getting their way with Google and Apple.

Logistically speaking: By the time the dust settles on such lawsuits, the next generation is here while the companies can use whatever loopholes to stall out for another generation. Consoles are so ephemeral in the grand scheme of things, and lawsuits take so long, that it's not worth it.

Meanwhile, mobile OS's have been around for 15+ years and seem to be there for the long run. Playing the long game makes sense.

----

Emotionally speaking: Tim Sweeny is a game dev at heart and probably respects dedicated console gaming (despite coming to notoriety via PC gaming). They sell consoles at a loss to make gaming more accessible which is many devs' goals at the end of the day. IOS and Android are closer to a PC than a dedicated console, so closing down those environments make no sense. Android inherently isn't closed but Google was strong arming 3rd parties behind the scnes (which Epic won in court over). Apple... well, many people reading this probably know that history.

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