Eh, Apple’s never really cared about games as a product, so the availability of UE to developers for the iOS platform doesn’t really matter to them. What they DO care about is protecting their store and market, and their ability to maintain both, and making it perfectly clear that circumventing their quality/security…

Yeh, that’s the facts of the case, really. What I’m tired of is the people deciding Epic is somehow being benevolent in all this. Any view of this other than two companies arguing over who gets to take more of our money is incredibly short-sighted.

Because most apps are free with in-app purchases. Do you feel Apple should host those apps for free?

So what is your solution for a free app that is funded solely through in-app purchases? Because that’s the description of Fortnite in a nutshell. Should Apple be forced to host any app for free, without ever getting paid for it?

No, it indicates nothing except that they wanted it to seem like the two markets that they are suing over are different. They state in the lawsuits that those other markets charge the same.

So your argument is that the Nintendo Store, the XBox Live Marketplace, and the PlayStation Store should all have on-platform competitors that don’t charge 30%? Because that’s what all three do. And Epic isn’t suing them for their cuts.

Then they can not sell through Apple’s store. Nobody is forcing them to use Apple’s store. They just want to.

No, Android users can use Epic’s own store on Android to install Fortnite. They can download the game and install it themselves. There are other big stores on Android that carry Fortnite, including Amazon’s app store. There are too many options, they just aren’t used as frequently. What Google has is customers, and…

Thing is, Macs weren’t sold with that in mind, iOS devices were. So, in buying an Apple product, you bought access to that walled garden. It doesn’t really compare.

...except they launched the same lawsuit against Google, when they have a store for Android, when Google removed them from the Play Store shortly after Apple did. So it’s all about “we want to use your store but keep all the money.”

You’ve seen their financials? Or are you making an assumption based on your biases?

Microsoft was found guilty because it had the majority of the market and used that to force the installation of unrelated software, an anti-competitive tactic. Apple does not have a majority of the smartphone market, and is not using it’s share of the market to force anything.

And please, can we stop using the whole “You can buy a different product” in regards to silencing criticism of big companies? Some people like myself can afford that, but I know very well that others can’t.

Sorry, but I prefer when people have more freedom in regards to the devices they own. When companies like Apple decide not to carry software on their store, I think it’s better when people have the choice to install that software through other means.

They don’t have to, but then they will get blamed for things they couldn’t vet, as 50DrunksInABar demonstrated. Keeping the iOS ecosystem locked down is as much a legal thing as anything else. It’s annoying, sure, and they go out of their way to make it difficult to circumvent, but the services they provide, in and of…

The percentage might be off, but they do still have the right to charge for access to their work. If you wanted to dispute something here, I’d suggest it’d be the fact that the TOS doesn’t cover that specific use-case (publishing for free, then charging, while cutting out Apple), but instead applies to everything.…

You just had someone who actually used the app and a separate system state that it’s not possible. You can easily confirm this for yourself.

That’s been the big thing for me. The sheer hypocrisy of suing over purported anti-consumer practices while they continue to engage in them themselves is just... staggering.

Uh, Apple does supply the store, maintain the OS, and vet every app and it’s updates. All that does cost money.

The reason these rules exist is so apps aren’t made available for free with their content unlocked solely through third-party in-app purchases. That would entirely cut Google and Apple out of the profits from their own store. I’m sure you can see why that would be undesirable.