Ridley Scott, director of Apple's 1984 ad, gives his opinion on Epic's version

[midian182]

In a nutshell: Epic Games’ war with Apple has been one of the most public, and at times vicious, spats the tech industry has ever witnessed, with both sides taking constant digs at each other. Epic even threw shade at Apple by recreating its famous 1984 commercial and casting Cupertino as the Big Brother character. Now, the person behind that original ad, Alien director Ridley Scott, has given his opinion on Epic's remake.

As a recap, the saga began with the addition of a payment option in the iOS and Android versions of Fortnite that paid Epic directly, skipping Apple/Google’s 30% cut and giving players a discount on goods. The game was promptly kicked from both companies’ stores, leading to Epic launching antitrust lawsuits against the tech giants.

In the first of several jabs against Apple, Epic did a shot-for-shot animated remake of the company’s 1984 Apple Macintosh commercial inside Fortnite. But instead of the original Big Brother antagonist, it featured an Apple-headed bad guy, placing the iPhone-maker in the role of IBM, which dominated the personal computer market in the early eighties.

That original ad was directed by Hollywood legend Ridley Scott, the man behind the camera for Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, and many more. In an interview with IGN, he was asked if he’d seen Epic’s take.

“I sure have and I wrote to them because on the one hand I can be fully complimented by the fact they copied [my commercial] shot for shot,” Scott said. “But pity the message is so ordinary when they could have been talking about democracy or more powerful things… And they didn’t use it.”

So, it seems the director/producer has mixed feelings about it. “I think the animation was terrific, the idea was terrific, the message was ‘ehh’.”

Since the lawsuit, Epic has run a Fortnite Cup that offered a slew of non-Apple prizes. Apple, meanwhile, promised to "terminate" all of Epic's developer accounts and cut the company off from iOS and Mac developer tools, leading to another lawsuit, but a judge blocked the move with a temporary restraining order. Apple’s response? To make Fortnite-rival PUBG its game of the day.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/86587-ridley-scott-director-apple-1984-ad-gives-opinion.html

 

[Endymio]

“But pity the message is so ordinary when they could have been talking about democracy or more powerful things… And they didn’t use it.”

Isn't their message exactly the same as Scott's was, in the original commercial?

 

[mbrowne5061]

Isn't their message exactly the same as Scott's was, in the original commercial?

Maybe he thought his own message was 'ehh'? Not like he didn't know he was making a commercial for a corporation.

 

[Shadowboxer]

Apple don’t have a monopoly. No judge will ever concede that selling to 45% of the market counts as a monopoly.

 

[toooooot]

Apple don’t have a monopoly. No judge will ever concede that selling to 45% of the market counts as a monopoly.

I am not rich. But trying to be objective, I just don't see why companies like Epic for example cant create an eco system, design and manufacturer devices that work in it, expand and distribute their products worldwide, and then charge whatever they want as tax people who wanna sell their apps in the ecosystem.
There are plenty alternatives to Apple, IOS and their store. It is just Apple perfected their ecosystem to the heights that it deserves to be admired.
If I were a developer selling in Apple store, I would want a smaller tax to pay. But as what Epic is, they sound a lot like hypocrites because they also have a store, and as the time goes by, they can easily crank up the tax when or if they demolish their rivals.

 

[CrisisDog]

Epic is, they sound a lot like hypocrites because they also have a store, and as the time goes by, they can easily crank up the tax when or if they demolish their rivals.

Well, the problem I see is the Epic store is charging less, and their storefront is available on PC and Mac. Apple on the other hand, only allows their App Store on iOS at a higher rate, and have also revoked developer tools, thus taking away the “keys” to not only digitally sign and verify iOS, but macOS apps as well. Whatever happened to being able to load up any game or app you wanted to on your Mac? Oh, no developer tools to sign your new code? So sorry, you’re not allowed on any Apple platform now...