Epic Games Storefront - A Good Incentive for Piracy

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That's utter nonsense as long as you still have to root a phone to be able to do what you want with it. That they have multiple purposes is irrelevant; the actual design is almost exactly the same as a console. Apple is obviously a hell of a lot more draconian than Google when it comes to the hardware, but they are both terrible companies when it comes to the software and even my Samsung phone is locked down pretty damn tight by default.

Hey man, I think you took my text out of context or something. I simply mean phones are basically a requirement in everyday life... just like Windows was/is, at least before mobile took over. All I'm saying is if Microsoft got slammed back in the 90s, I don't see why Apple/Google won't be. Consoles on the other hand are not an all-purpose device, so I don't see them getting touched anytime soon.
 
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fanaskin

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good lord, people are blind. This has Tencent feel all over. It's part of their long time strategy. This is one of the reasons they acquire foreign assets. Tencent (China) doesn't give a flying fuck about gaming or app store payment policies. What they care about is changing foreign laws to suit their future goals. And this is one of the best ways to do it

I agree with bubbles this is really about ccp trying to force their spyware onto everyone while a ccp state champion company targets a US industry like ccp's zombie companies targetting steel, cement, rare earth metal industries in other countries decades prior.



 
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I don't know, this wreaks of a Sweeney move to me. I even have a feeling he would try buying out Tencent if possible.
 

Araxen

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That's utter nonsense as long as you still have to root a phone to be able to do what you want with it. That they have multiple purposes is irrelevant; the actual design is almost exactly the same as a console. Apple is obviously a hell of a lot more draconian than Google when it comes to the hardware, but they are both terrible companies when it comes to the software and even my Samsung phone is locked down pretty damn tight by default.

The thing with Android if you don't want to deal with Samsung's bullshit, you can get a Google brand phone which are usually pretty trivial to root. You have options on Android. You don't have that with IOS.
 

Vorph

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Hey man, I think you took my text out of context or something. I simply mean phones are basically a requirement in everyday life... just like Windows was/is, at least before mobile took over. All I'm saying is if Microsoft got slammed back in the 90s, I don't see why Apple/Google won't be. Consoles on the other hand are not an all-purpose device, so I don't see them getting touched anytime soon.
Nah, I get what you're saying. But Windows was never a closed ecosystem and the thing MS ran into trouble with was the bundling of Internet Explorer into the OS... which seems rather quaint when you look at all the things Apple and Google do that no one--consumer, politician, or judge--seems to question at all. The worst part is that even though I despise Google and Apple and would love to see them hit with antitrust (and all sorts of other) violations, it needs to be done by the DOJ and not a company like Epic. And I still don't think the app store taking a cut of everything on it is even a legitimate complaint. Like it or not, it's the price you pay for access to the customer base they've built. IMO phones being more essential than consoles doesn't change the legality of that business model.

The thing with Android if you don't want to deal with Samsung's bullshit, you can get a Google brand phone which are usually pretty trivial to root. You have options on Android. You don't have that with IOS.
Sure but they will still try to void your warranty, refuse support, make you deal with your own OS upgrades rather than get OTA, etc. What bugs me even more than phones (where a lot of this shit comes from the cellular carrier on top of what Apple and Google do themselves) is the way nearly all tablets are also very much locked down these days. I ended up buying a Windows tablet last year because of how ridiculous all the Android ones are.
 
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Hateyou

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Like Apple or not Epic violated the contract they signed up for. Fuck em it’s their fault, otherwise contracts are meaningless.

The antitrust angle should be pursued by DOJ, not Epic.
 
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Aren't anti-trust cases initiated by a competitor? Wasn't it Netscape back in the day?

Maybe that's Epic's long term plan. DOJ takes it up, Epic backs off, abides by Apple's guidelines to get back in the store and then lets the DOJ fight it out?
 

Hateyou

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Aren't anti-trust cases initiated by a competitor? Wasn't it Netscape back in the day?

Maybe that's Epic's long term plan. DOJ takes it up, Epic backs off, abides by Apple's guidelines to get back in the store and then lets the DOJ fight it out?

Maybe, I’m not versed in how anti trusts work. In that case fine, but I’m still on apples side on this one. They have a service you sign up for and pay to use to get access to their user base. Lots of other companies have similar setups, their user base just isn’t as big.
 
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Vorph

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What's Epic's goal here? 100% access to the entire iOS and Android user base to peddle their F2P game and not give a single penny to Apple or Google as all the actual payment processing goes through their own private processor? The idea of a court in the US going along with that seems completely absurd.

If the DOJ finaly gets off their collective asses and starts a serious probe into Apple and Google, I doubt it will have much to do with the app store side of their business. At most you might see them try to force a cap on the cut a store can take, but even that seems like a pretty dangerous precedent.
 

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What's Epic's goal here? 100% access to the entire iOS and Android user base to peddle their F2P game and not give a single penny to Apple or Google as all the actual payment processing goes through their own private processor? The idea of a court in the US going along with that seems completely absurd.

If the DOJ finaly gets off their collective asses and starts a serious probe into Apple and Google, I doubt it will have much to do with the app store side of their business. At most you might see them try to force a cap on the cut a store can take, but even that seems like a pretty dangerous precedent.

Maybe Apple / Google will lower their prices to compete? idk man.
 

Araxen

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Crytek Engine game exclusive to Epic. Seems like a stupid move, imho.
 

Regime

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If you installed Epic Gaming Store on your PC you probably already installed this on your car.

1598055928569.jpeg
 

Ukerric

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Nobody wants Unreal blocked on Apple Store.

The judge is also apparently deeply unsympathetic to the concept of exclusive stores - Apple might get shafted and allow alternative stores to be opened on iOS. The idea is that Apple can implement whatever rules it wants on his store, as long as someone else can put a different store on its device, like you can do on Android (which also means the Epic-Google suit is probably going to be ruled against Epic).
 

Vorph

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Fortnite isn't even "blocked" anyway. All Epic has to do is remove their in-game currency selling component and go back to how it always worked while the lawsuits play out. They don't want to do that though, since by keeping Fortnite in limbo they can attempt to weaponize the legion of retards who play that game against Apple.

And yes, Apple's more or less total ban on sideloaded apps is absurd and should have been crushed by the courts ages ago.