Things are about to get spicy in the world of mobile apps as Epic Games got the boot on Apple for offering alternative payment processing. Apple themselves charge in the neighborhood of 30% rates for in-app purchases on developers who have no other choice but to go through them if they want to be on IOS devices from iPhones to Ipads and so on.
Normally when you see a walled garden that Apple has in its market that not the biggest deal in the world. Expect there just one issue here between Apple and Android they are the market for app distribution and payment processing on mobile devices for those looking to play by the rules. You would have to root your phone in many instances and do other things to get the tight grip that they companies hold on the mobile market for any kind of choice which they fight tooth and nail to avoid being doing.
While I’m not a mobile gamer myself I find what Epic Games did with Fortnite to be cleaver in the IOS store. They offered players the choice to pick who should process their payment for an in-app purchase. On one side you had Epic Games and on the other Apple. Naturally, with Apple taking up to a 30% cut, they were not the competitive option for players to select when paying. Apple was not happy about this and gave them the boot.
While Epic Games does declare they have suffered an amount exceeding legal requirements to go after Apple in their complaint filed against them for a whole host of things since it exceeds $75k. Epic Games is not looking to let Apple off the hook with a couple of fines and a few cents tossed into their coffer. No, they want something much more powerful in my opinion— payment and distribution choice for users.
For those not in the gaming world, Epic Games themselves have been expanding in a very aggressive manner their platform on the PC. They are offering bigger discounts, piles of free games, and locking down exclusive deals for titles left in right. This is the short term has been quite amazing for gamers getting a cheaper product. The exclusivity sucks but that is how they are winning the war.
As a result, you only have to check out games on the Steam store for instance who is a major competitor. Lots of game titles themselves are releasing this year just not on Steam right away. Even further when these two go into major sales Epic Games tends to have better deals. I don’t see gamers looking to pay full price on a year old release by then. Let alone a higher price when both platforms are having a sale in the long run.
Epic Games can lock down those deals by simply offering to take a lower cut for payment processing and other services such as distribution. While I’m not quite sure how much of a haircut they are taking as you have seen if you are a gamer it’s more than enough to lure game developers into certain deals.
Interestingly enough in the complaint Epic Games filed against Apple, they bring up the 30% cut apple charges 23 times. Which as we all know Epic Games has already proven they can and will undercut the price they charge if you need to go through Apple.
Besides, as quoted “nor is Epic seeking favorable treatment for itself, a single company” which in itself is quite an interesting way to word things. There are lots of companies that have to pay out that up to 30% to Apple with zero alternatives. I also don’t even want to think about how Apple is going to deal with things like cryptocurrency where players can sell to other players outside of Apple's control and financial gain. Something tells me they might take an issue with that and it’s slow down blockchain gaming with developers having to find clever ways to be within Apple's terms and conditions.
If Epic Games can succeed there are far more reaching ramifications than just in the gaming world or for Epic Games themselves. This would mean all apps have in some way or another been suffering at the hands of an overzealous 30% rate without fair competition to the massive mobile market. Others could use this case if needed if Epic Games wins to make their claims and file damages they have suffered perhaps?
Final Thoughts
We have seen it ourselves in cryptocurrency the struggle apps go through just to make it onto the Apple store. It is often quite a slow process having massive finical cost to those looking to launch on the mobile market due to delay and inaction. Not to mention Apple has been known on a whim to just flat out terminate cryptocurrency apps. This then causes the developer to have to fight it and wait sometimes months to get permitted back into the walled garden Apple keeps. Which are a lot of lost time and money the app developer.
This is more than just the Free Fornite movement Epic Games is trying to start on Twitter. It’s free the mobile devices from the Apple monopoly for payment processing and distribution. I could see quite a lot of companies and large piles of cash wanting to get in on both sides of this dispute. Not to mention the nod to the year 1984 and how they are promoting all of this was quite a cleaver move.
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Written by @Enjar about my opinion regarding Epic Games complaint against Apple.
This is great, big corporations fighting each other to see who will make more millions of dollars per year... this is just a battle over power and control.
The problem with these big corporations is their end goal is always the same, squeeze every penny you can out of the consumer to make as much profit as possible, so the owners can by themselves another yacht. While the people who do the actual work, work long hours for not enough pay. But the biggest problem is with our economic system, as these corporations gain more and more wealth the end goal is always a monopoly, they want complete and total control. The only thing that can prevent a monopoly is government laws/regulations, but only if the politicians have not already been bought by those same corporations, which they most likely have...
Apple and Google already have a monopoly on the mobile market and Epic is trying to become the monopoly of the gaming market... big corps fighting to see who will win at monopoly...
I do love enjoying whatever deals we get while two giants fight it out for the pie. While it’s only the crumbs I was not going get more anyways.
I seem to remember as the banker having a 100% win rate at the game monopoly. Fanatics game when you use house rules defend by the bank.
!ENGAGE 25
ENGAGEtokens.I'm not a super huge gamer but you can bet your ass I claim the weekly free games from epic. I've got enough games to play for awhile when I have the time.
I say good on them for trying to bust up this apple monopoly and give players some choice.
Sure it is all about money and we will probly be trying to bust up the epic games monopoly in a few years but I'll take what I can get at the moment.
Nice write up. I'm out of the loop on this sort of stuff. :)
They sometimes are sneaky and do more than just the weekly free game(s). Troy A Total War Saga that just released was free for the first 24 hours.
I just hope they reopen their support a creator program at some point and lower the requirements to be accepted in.
Both of these companies have been involved in an incredible amount of shady and underhanded practices, so this is an odd situation to watch play out. Epic Game Store is definately the kind of group who would jump at the chance to run the kind of Monopoly they are fighting, yet I still think they are at least right to a degree here.
It's like that time Westero Baptist Church showed up to protest a funeral with their 'God Hate's Fags' and 'Thank God for Dead Soldiers' signs, and then the KKK Turned up to counter protest them. Yeah, the KKK was right to counter protest these assholes, but it feels fundamentally wrong to be on the same side of any situation as the KKK. :p
These giant corporations turning into the thing they claim they are fighting I fully expect. At least in this instance if Epic Games wins others could move into the market as well if they don’t settle out of court. Short term we might get to see some benefits to competition. Long term it’s all heading to the same place unless there a lot more speed bumps to slow down or detour things further.
#posh