“Ultimately, it’s probably one or more of the gigantic multi-million and billion and trillion corporations will win big,” Ismail said. “The question is how much ‘collateral’ damage is done to the small developers along the way.”
After baiting, Apple and Google removed Fortnite from their mobile storefronts this month, Epic declared both companies separate, accusing them of anti-competitive practices. The case against Apple is particularly prominent, as it has a history of blocking third-party payment systems from operating on iOS and enforcing stricter rules for revenue sharing in the App Store – unless you are Amazon, that is.
Epic Games has filed legal papers in response to Apple, read more here: https://t.co/c4sgvxQUvb
– Fortnite (@FortniteGame) August 13, 2020
When it filed a lawsuit against Apple, Epic posted a 48-second video on YouTube parodying the company’s 1984 iconic ad and calling for all Fortnite players to “join the fight” against the “App Store Monopoly.”
Apple has since threatened to remove Epic’s access to developer tools on iOS and Mac, which would cut updates and support for the Unreal Engine, a platform used by tens of thousands of developers worldwide. Ismail called this the ‘first blow’ of collateral damage against independent makers.
“Apple and Google have an iron grip on almost everything related to the mobile app’s ecosystem, including distribution and sales,” said Ismail. “I’m glad that Epic makes the topic easier to discuss, and that they put some reasonable PR pressure on the mobile platforms to adapt. I’m also just having fun because I’ve never seen a lawsuit before that it was a stair card in there Yu-Gi-Oh, with an honest-to-god in-game trailer. It is truly a new era of legal spectacle. ”
Epic games
Vlambeer won the Apple Design Award in 2013 for Ridiculous fishing, a beautiful and addictive game built specifically for mobile devices. Ismail has experience working with every major gaming platform, from PC to console to mobile, and he has been pronounced earlier about the unsustainable nature of a standard industrial practice: the share of 30 percent income. This is a significant part of Epic’s lawsuit against Apple, which calls the fee “exorbitant”.
Ep Swedish CEO Tim Sweeney has long been a staunch supporter of the 30 percent reduction in fees collected by Valve, Microsoft, Sony, Apple and Google for participating in their digital storefronts. In fact, when his company launched the Epic Games Store in December 2018, the main marketing line was that it charged developers just 12 percent.
This was a direct attack on Steam, Valve’s multibillion-dollar faucet that went unchecked in the PC gaming space for more than a decade. Sweeney made it clear and published an ultimatum to Valve, tweeting, “If Steam committed to a permanent 88% stake for all developers and publishers without adding major strings, Epic would hastily organize a retreat of exclusives (while honoring our partner obligations ) and remember to put our own games on Steam. ”
So far, Steam has not flashed. Apple, however.
In late July, Apple CEO Tim Cook spent a few hours defending his company against claims by the House Judiciary Committee that it operates the App Store as a monopoly. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai was there as well, but he had other questions to answer, especially about Google’s advertising business.
Representatives asked Cook about the time Eddie Cue bragged to Steve Jobs about blocking Random House from launching its own bookselling apps in the App Store amid the launch of the iBookstore, and about the special treatment Amazon was able to secure earlier this year. Apple routinely blocks developers from setting up their own payment systems or otherwise embracing the App Store’s built-in purchase buttons, but in April, the Prime Video iOS app quietly rolled out payments directly through Amazon, making it one of the most valuable companies in the world. sidestep can complete Apple’s fees. Apple says this is all acceptable under a rarely used clause for premium subscription providers for video entertainment, but even the most coveted sector observers do not remain convinced.
Cook spent more than five hours arguing under oath that the App Store treats every developer exactly the same, and a week later Apple was forced to justify its decision to block some gaming apps from operating on iOS. Microsoft’s xCloud gaming service for streaming was one of those apps, and the company released a statement reading: ‘Apple stands alone as the sole general purpose platform to deny customers cloud games and subscription services for games such as Xbox Game Pass. And it treats gaming apps consistently differently. On top of the US congressional investigation, the European Union is looking for Apple’s App Store practices on behalf of Spotify.
In summary, Apple is vulnerable. Now, as vulnerable as a company valued at $ 2 trillion can be. Epic’s lawsuits were planned well in advance, with Sweeney commenting on Apple’s and Google monopolies prior to the tech antitrust hearing, and the elaboration of anti-Apple in-game Fortnite events after completion.
“If small developers see some benefit, it will be a lower share that will be paid to another corporation, and it will probably come at the expense of selling your game in someone else’s app,” Ismail said.
Which brings us to the heart of Epic’s lawsuits. They are not over Fortnite. They are not about Apple as Google’s revenue sharing models. This is all about getting the Epic Games Store on mobile operating systems.
Mobile is the fastest growing segment in gaming, estimated to be worth $ 77.2 billion by 2020, according to Newzoo. Currently, Apple has made a habit of blocking third-party payment systems from operating on iOS, and even on Android, Google is making it difficult to sell in-game items outside the Play Store. Epic ran into this problem when it briefly tried to run Fortnite outside of Google’s mobile ecosystem, a feat it has not even tried on iOS. A mobile version of the Epic Games Store represents a massive source of potential revenue for Sweeney’s company, and it does not want to share these sales with Apple or Google.
