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Apple Terminates Epic Games' Developer Account

Jose92

[Membe
The Drama Continues

Update: In a statement, Apple confirmed the account has been removed and said it's disappointing that the termination had to happen.

We are disappointed that we have had to terminate the Epic Games account on the ‌App Store‌. We have worked with the team at Epic Games for many years on their launches and releases. The court recommended that Epic comply with the ‌App Store‌ guidelines while their case moves forward, guidelines they’ve followed for the past decade until they created this situation. Epic has refused. Instead they repeatedly submit Fortnite updates designed to violate the guidelines of the ‌App Store‌. This is not fair to all other developers on the ‌App Store‌ and is putting customers in the middle of their fight. We hope that we can work together again in the future, but unfortunately that is not possible today.
Apple says that the termination applies only to the Epic Games developer account, and it occurred after Epic Games was provided with 14 days to comply with the ‌App Store‌ rules. The removal of the Epic Games account is Apple's standard process for all accounts that defy ‌App Store‌ policies.

Epic no longer has the option to submit apps or updates through its developer account and in-app purchases in the Fortnite app will no longer be a functional option for Fortnite players. Apple says that disabling in-app purchases will protect users as Fortnite's new season launches as Epic had been directing users to Apple's support staff to get purchase refunds.

https://www.macrumors.com/2020/08/28/apple-terminates-epic-games-developer-account/

 
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GrayFoxPL

Member
BjICz8i.gif
 

BootsLoader

Banned
A big war is on the way now. Apple provided a lot of customers to them. If other companies turn against Apple then it may turn like a boomerang, the thing is that Apple is not simply a company, it’s somehow a culture in the tech business etc. I’m very interested in how this will turn out. Who will win and who will lose.
 

Arkam

Member
This will probably hurt Apple more than it will Epic. Fortnite is still really popular.
Correct me if I am wrong (I dont play Fortnight) but this was all about how Fortnight a F2P game with MTX. And Epic then deciding to cut Apple out of the MTX. If thats true what is apple losing? Had they allowed Epic to do this they would have lost money, then have other developers doing the same, further losing money.
 

Jeeves

Member
Correct me if I am wrong (I dont play Fortnight) but this was all about how Fortnight a F2P game with MTX. And Epic then deciding to cut Apple out of the MTX. If thats true what is apple losing? Had they allowed Epic to do this they would have lost money, then have other developers doing the same, further losing money.
Kids who want to play Fortnite switching to Android, I'd imagine. Additionally, I honestly feel like Epic's strategy of actively trying to poison kids against Apple might work.
 
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Arkam

Member
Kids who want to play Fortnite switching to Android, I'd imagine.
Thats a valid point. But do we think that there are that many that play on mobile? I honestly have never looked up the numbers. Just seems like a third rate way to play. But hey I have MineCraft on iOS (in addition PC, Switch and PS4) and I might have put the most time in to the worst (iOS) version lol
 

//DEVIL//

Member
This will hurt epic more than apple .
Apple has millions of developers and they make lots of money from softwares on the App Store regardless .
Yes it’s less money for them now. But Epic has only few platforms that can release fortnight on . And apple is probably the biggest or second biggest ( just assuming ) .
Epic is killing fortnight popularity . And it’s giving chances to competitors to rise .

Epic is basically like this very important employee in a big company . They think if they leave the company will crumble as if the whole company is depending on that employee . That same stupid mentality.

Apple gave you a huge platform for 30% cut. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you this platform. What a bunch of idiots.
 
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Analogy...
Just imagine if a company like Samsung wanted a physical space in a brick and mortar store like Best Buy. Now Best Buy offers companies area within their store for a price to keep that area. other companies like Apple and Google agree to pay to keep that space but Samsung, because they have a hype new phone and loyal fans, think they don't need to pay, or instead try to bypass Best Buy getting any of the sale while being in their store because they feel that Best Buy is asking for too much.


So am actually on the side of Apple in this one, greedy, Steve Job turning in his grave bc Apple pen, Apple. Down goes Epic
 
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Jeeves

Member
Thats a valid point. But do we think that there are that many that play on mobile? I honestly have never looked up the numbers. Just seems like a third rate way to play. But hey I have MineCraft on iOS (in addition PC, Switch and PS4) and I might have put the most time in to the worst (iOS) version lol
Yeah I have no idea on that, I didn't even know there was a mobile version until this debacle started lol. I'd guess it's probably not an insignificant number though, knowing people.
 

T-Cake

Member
Those other tech companies could really turn the screws on Apple if they remove their apps from iOS - Microsoft with its office suite, Google with YouTube, Maps, Gmail and Facebook with Instagram, Messenger, etc.
 

MrFunSocks

Banned
This will probably hurt Apple more than it will Epic. Fortnite is still really popular.
Not a chance. Apple have more money than god, and people are more likely to stop playing fortnite and move on to the next game on iOS because they can’t buy their stupid dances and costumes than they are to move on from iOS because of it.

Good on Apple for enforcing their rules instead of letting epic bully them. Epic have really shot themselves in the foot here.
 

Vandole

Member
Are there numbers about how many people are playing it these days? My kid and his friends all kind of pushed it aside at the beginning of this year, so it's not on my radar anymore.
 

mckmas8808

Banned
Analogy...
Just imagine if a company like Samsung wanted a physical space in a brick and mortar store like Best Buy. Now Best Buy offers companies area within their store for a price to keep that area. other companies like Apple and Google agree to pay to keep that space but Samsung, because they have a hype new phone and loyal fans, think they don't need to pay, or instead try to bypass Best Buy getting any of the sale while being in their store because they feel that Best Buy is asking for too much.


So am actually on the side of Apple in this one, greedy, Steve Job turning in his grave bc Apple pen, Apple. Down goes Epic

If Best Buy was the only way to buy electronics, then I think the courts may find issue with Best Buy's policies in this example.
 

mckmas8808

Banned
Those other tech companies could really turn the screws on Apple if they remove their apps from iOS - Microsoft with its office suite, Google with YouTube, Maps, Gmail and Facebook with Instagram, Messenger, etc.

What would their incentive to doing this though?

When some kid can't play Fortnite they're not going to get mad at Apple, in the end they'll play something else

Or just buy the next Samsung phone.
 

BluRayHiDef

Banned
I seriously don't understand why anyone is criticizing Apple. All they're doing is enforcing the policies of their platform, which every developer/ publisher apart from Epic follows and which Epic had been following up until they decided to stop doing so. If Epic doesn't like Apple's policies or think that Apple's cut of their profits is too great, then they should have simply left the platform rather than attempt to circumvent its rules, knowing that they wouldn't get away with doing so.
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
It all hinges on what Google do. They concede to Epic and get a huge exclusive. 30% of nothing is nothing, but 20% of every mobile user of Fortnite is a ton of income, plus a sales driver to their platform as a whole.
 

IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
Huge opportunity for another BR game to make waves on mobile.

And Unity of course is already benefiting from devs being freaked out by Epics stupidity, even despite the Unreal engine account getting removed from the fiasco.

A great irony would be a Unity based BR taking over as market leader lol
 
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A.Romero

Member
If Best Buy was the only way to buy electronics, then I think the courts may find issue with Best Buy's policies in this example.

However, it is not. And iOS is not the only platform on the market.

It's more likely that Epic will eventually bend the knee than Apple.

Not only this fight is stupid (unless you are Epic and are trying to avoid paying fees) but also it has been handled by Epic in the worst way imaginable. Did they think people all over the world would start using hashtags on social media to support them or something like that? People don't give a shit and shouldn't give a shit.

I'd love to see Epic going into the hardware market. They will most likely fail but it would be great to see them try.
 

mckmas8808

Banned
Huge opportunity for another BR game to make waves on mobile.

And Unity of course is already benefiting from devs being freaked out by Epics stupidity, even despite the Unreal engine account getting removed from the fiasco.

A great irony would be a Unity based BR taking over as market leader lol

The Unreal Engine is leagues better than Unity.

However, it is not. And iOS is not the only platform on the market.

It's more likely that Epic will eventually bend the knee than Apple.

Not only this fight is stupid (unless you are Epic and are trying to avoid paying fees) but also it has been handled by Epic in the worst way imaginable. Did they think people all over the world would start using hashtags on social media to support them or something like that? People don't give a shit and shouldn't give a shit.

I'd love to see Epic going into the hardware market. They will most likely fail but it would be great to see them try.

This is about more than the 30% fee. This is about Apple not offering options for purchase in all apps.
 
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reinking

Gold Member
Also this is turning into a rallying cry for other app developers like Microsoft and Facebook to pushing against Apple's policies and joining in on the media campaign against them.
Except those companies have app stores too and the outcome of this one could impact a ruling against them in the future. Do you think if the court rules 30% is too high people are not going to start going after other digital markets? Also, no way Epic gets their own store on iOS. Especially for free.

Since Epic wants their own store front to sell Fortnite V-Bucks to iOS users. I guess my question would be does Apple get an out because V-Bucks can be purchased through gift cards therefore bypassing the app store purchase?
 
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A.Romero

Member
The Unreal Engine is leagues better than Unity.



This is about more than the 30% fee. This is about Apple not offering options for purchase in all apps.

What do you mean? Do you think Epic wants to set up their own parallel store for mtx for any other reason than to avoid paying Apple/Google a 30% cut?


It all hinges on what Google do. They concede to Epic and get a huge exclusive. 30% of nothing is nothing, but 20% of every mobile user of Fortnite is a ton of income, plus a sales driver to their platform as a whole.

Epic wants to cut them out entirely by using their own store, not just lowering the percentage. There is no positive angle for Google or Apple.



Everyone needs to understand that Apple makes 0 money from lots of people playing Fortnite. Yes, they do have a margin on hardware (way bigger than any other manufacturer) but they also make money from taking cuts from developers. Changing this impacts their way of doing business in an fundamental way.

Even assuming all regular Fortnite players that own an iOS device mainly to play Fortnite decided to go to another platform because Fortnite, Apple wouldn't be missing out on enough money to change it's tactics because there are thousands of other developers still paying it's cut.

If anyone can get away with this is Apple and there is no way Epic didn't know that. They are just taking a gamble. And most likely they are going to lose.

It would surprise me greatly that Google bit just to have Epic on their side. I really doubt Epic's contribution to Google's or Apple's income is high enough to compensate for reducing the cut from all the other developers combined.
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
Epic wants to cut them out entirely by using their own store, not just lowering the percentage. There is no positive angle for Google or Apple.

Are you sure about that? My understanding was that they were angling to be the payment processor but kick-back a percentage to the platform holder.

I also have to say I find it funny that people are angry about this, but got all up in Sony's shit about cross-platform play and purchases. The situation is no different to what MS wanted with Minecraft Bedrock; centralize mt on their servers/sales platform meaning that it was on the platform holder to serve purchases that weren't made on their system.
 
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