Epic Games files a lawsuit against Apple following Fortnite's App Store removal

[etempest]

So, we have two mega corporations fighting over % of money....

Let them fight it out among themselves, there's far better causes you can be protesting about that have real work impact on people's lives, then which wealthy Corp gets to keep more of your money.

 

[Panda218]

I found the easiest way to avoid all this crap is to never purchase any apps, I've owned an iphone for over 10 years and have never once bought an app. If the app isn't free I don't need it.

same goes for android, I have one for work and refuse to pay them for any apps.

The Google opinion reviews app is the only reason I have paid apps on android. Since starting it in 2015 I've made 115 bucks to spend on the play store. Not bad for surveys that take less than 30 seconds to fill out.

 

[Markoni35]

As if Google is any different......
For example, what about freedom of speech on YouTube? You're only allowed to put neoliberal comments or neutral comments that don't challenge their propaganda bias. Truth is not welcome. But seems that no government body is interested in freedom of speech on de-facto-monopolist Google platforms.

Seems to me Apple is being attacked from all weapons, while Google is let to slide by with even worse practices. I'm not a big fan of Apple, but if we let one side win, that side is becoming a dictator. We all lose. So it's important to have at least duopoly, if not omnipoly.

 

[Neatfeatguy]

Not really sure what Epic expects to gain out of this. As much as Apple clearly doesn't need the money that badly, they have a right to take their cut for supporting the distribution of the game.

Apple isn't supporting the distribution of the game, they're blocking it behind a paywall.

Use their service, obey their rules or don't do business on their platform. This method they provide for use of their store isn't supporting the distribution, it's strong arming the developer to pay up or f-off.

 

[jonny888]

Apple isn't supporting the distribution of the game, they're blocking it behind a paywall.

Use their service, obey their rules or don't do business on their platform. This method they provide for use of their store isn't supporting the distribution, it's strong arming the developer to pay up or f-off.

Well, without the hardware or the OS that they developed, Epic wouldn't be able to sell their game on Apple's product. So yes, they are providing a platform for Epic to make money. Not distribution in the literal sense, but a portal.
As far as I know there's no law that says Apple is forced to sell or distribute 3rd party products on their app store. That's not to say I think all of their rules are as good (or possibly as lax) as they should be, but yeh.

Also. if the rules are truly that bad that no dev can make money under Apple, then why are their millions of apps making billions of dollars in the iOS ecosystem? It's clearly not that bad. Even if I personally think Apple's cut is bigger than it should be, it's still enough for devs to make a healthy living. Especially a big company with a big title like Epic and Fortnight. So I'm struggling to find much sympathy for Epic here. Nor do I believe the end user or consumer would ever see the benefit/cost savings that Epic is promising in the long term. It hasn't worked that way on PC. Why would it suddenly work that way on mobile?