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Epic direct payment on mobile

epicgames.com

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Re: Epic direct payment on mobile

#71

Post by jsnell »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #27
ary wrote: post #14

My guess is that this is a gambit to force Apple’s hand during a time when there is the most intense antitrust pressure over the App Store since it’s launch. If Apple cracks down then it’s just more fuel for the antitrust fire, and potentially evidence in court. If they allow it then it’s precedent that others can use to employ the same tactic. Either way it seems to me Epic is taking a calculated risk to induce chan…

Also, the legal standard in the US is laser-focused on whether consumer prices have gone up as a result of a company's practices. What better demonstration could Epic possibly create of how the App Store leads to price increases?

Except that Epic is using the cheaper prices on consoles, where the platform owner is taking a 30% cut. Clearly Epic's pricing isn't actually driven by the app store costs on mobile platforms.

Re: Epic direct payment on mobile

#72

Post by jamil7 »

cloudking wrote: post #47

Maybe the Apple cut is too high, but I don't think it's unreasonable for them to take some cut. They are providing the distribution platform to get your app to millions of users, it's not free for them to provide that service. They have their own server, bandwidth and employee costs too.

It does provide value thats the thing, it's relatively easy to setup IAP and subscriptions, IMO they can keep the 30% but they should just allow apps to offer other payment methods.

Re: Epic direct payment on mobile

#73

Post by uncoder0 »

SuperTachyon wrote: post #66
uncoder0 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you sure Epic hasn't negotiated some sort of deal with Xbox and playstation to lower the cut to a more reasonable rate given their volume of transactions.

That I’m not sure. Do you have any sources?

To clarify, I work in the gaming industry and I've heard rumors of large publishers negotiating better terms when they get to a certain magical number of transactions/gross rev. I'm not sure I've read any reporting on it. The sources I heard this from would have been in a position to know but, I can't really point to any hard data. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it were true. I've heard it can be as low as 10-15% but again I don't have any evidence on that.

Re: Epic direct payment on mobile

#74

Post by ziddoap »

speedgoose wrote: post #58
cloudking wrote: post #47

Maybe the Apple cut is too high, but I don't think it's unreasonable for them to take some cut. They are providing the distribution platform to get your app to millions of users, it's not free for them to provide that service. They have their own server, bandwidth and employee costs too.

What about billing this cost plus some margin to the app developers instead of taking a cut on everything?

That adds quite a bit of overhead (administration, accounting, etc.), which in turn would increase the costs even more. It is much easier to wrap it into the transaction itself instead of having to track, invoice, and collect the cost in a separate transaction.

Re: Epic direct payment on mobile

#75

Post by virtue3 »

I love how they are "passing the savings down to us" from a non existing digital item that they set the price of.

Ugh.

Anyway, this should be absolutely fascinating to watch how the antitrust cases against the app stores go!

Re: Epic direct payment on mobile

#76

Post by jsnell »

sawaruna wrote: post #70

>Does a new payment method on mobile mean purchases there are less safe? >No. Thousands of apps on the App Store approved by Apple accept direct payments, including commonly used apps like Amazon, Grubhub, Nike SNKRS, Best Buy, DoorDash, Fandango, McDonalds, Uber, Lyft, and StubHub. We think all developers should be free to support direct payments in all apps. [0] All of these services provide something physical. You…

> Does this mean Epic will start allowing users of the Epic Games Store on PC to directly pay game developers and bypass the EGS cut?

AFAIK they've already been allowing use of other payment processors for in-app purchases since last year, and are not taking any cut from those sales. They did actually put their money where their mouth is, on this one.

Re: Epic direct payment on mobile

#77

Post by milofeynman »

sawaruna wrote: post #70

>Does a new payment method on mobile mean purchases there are less safe? >No. Thousands of apps on the App Store approved by Apple accept direct payments, including commonly used apps like Amazon, Grubhub, Nike SNKRS, Best Buy, DoorDash, Fandango, McDonalds, Uber, Lyft, and StubHub. We think all developers should be free to support direct payments in all apps. [0] All of these services provide something physical. You…

Epic doesn't take a cut of virtual currency bought on games in their store. Your comparison doesn't make sense.

Re: Epic direct payment on mobile

#78

Post by gamblor956 »

jsnell wrote: post #71
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, the legal standard in the US is laser-focused on whether consumer prices have gone up as a result of a company's practices. What better demonstration could Epic possibly create of how the App Store leads to price increases?

Except that Epic is using the cheaper prices on consoles, where the platform owner is taking a 30% cut. Clearly Epic's pricing isn't actually driven by the app store costs on mobile platforms.

Epic doesn't pay Sony and MS 30% for console purchases, as both companies negotiate arrangements with big studios that lowers the rate.

Re: Epic direct payment on mobile

#79

Post by nottorp »

qppo wrote: post #44
superkuh wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, another monopolist trying to fill their garden. Epic is literally buying the companies behind long established games, removing game support for alternative OSes, and eventually only allowing access from "the epic store". No matter who wins between Epic and Apple human people lose. They're both walled garden monopolists.

To be fair to Epic, they are/were offering developers a better deal than Steam. And they've done far more for gaming over the past decade than Valve, which hasn't been able to successfully innovate in the last two.

However, they're not offering ME a better deal.

Let's see:

- games aren't cheaper on the Epic store, in spite of the allegedly smaller cut the store is supposed to take

- they're Windows only (and here comes the China reference, they only know about Windows in there)

- their store still doesn't have a shopping cart (i may not be current on this)... reeks of incompetence? Can you trust them with your credit card info?

- they have bribed developers to give them exclusivity, preventing me to get the games on the store of my choice.

- btw the above means Steam but also GoG. You people calling out Steam for being a monopoly, how many titles have you bought on GoG?

- Epic's only meaningful contribution to gaming since Unreal II is... a free to play arena shooter? Is that even a game? I can't afford free to play games, sorry.

Do you really think that if the Epic Store somehow manages to "win", it will be better for us customers in any way?

It's sad that the only entity fighting Apple's monopoly is... another would be monopolist.

Re: Epic direct payment on mobile

#80

Post by nrmitchi »

sawaruna wrote: post #70

>Does a new payment method on mobile mean purchases there are less safe? >No. Thousands of apps on the App Store approved by Apple accept direct payments, including commonly used apps like Amazon, Grubhub, Nike SNKRS, Best Buy, DoorDash, Fandango, McDonalds, Uber, Lyft, and StubHub. We think all developers should be free to support direct payments in all apps. [0] All of these services provide something physical. You…

> All of these services provide something physical. You can't buy Kindle Books, for example, on Amazon's app on iOS. This a bit disingenuous.

I don't see how it's disingenuous, the question was "are these purchases less safe". They said "No, and here are some examples".

Whether the item is physical or not, I don't see how it makes the transaction "less safe"?

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