The Diary Game 23/09/2021 - The Epic Games vs. Apple Trial Is Over; Companies Lose, Users Win.

In case you were watching the lawsuit between Epic Games and Apple and removing Fortnite from iOS, it's over and both companies have lost. This is the general opinion, that both companies lost, but especially Apple. The scandal started from the fact that Epic sold things for Fortnite from its own store and not through Apple, ie it did not pay the commission that everyone pays for sales in the AppStore, including in-app sales. Apple cut Epic and removed them from iOS, and Epic countered by suing them because Apple has a monopoly on iOS transactions.

The judge recently presented his decision in this case and, in short, these would be the following main ideas:

• Epic has not successfully demonstrated that Apple has a monopoly on mobile gaming transactions.

• Epic is guilty of violating the terms of the developer contract in the AppStore and Apple was entitled to evict them from the store.

• The fact that Apple only allows transactions through its own systems (to take the commission) is an anti-competitive practice that must be stopped.

• Specifically, for the last point, the US judge ruled that Apple can not prohibit developers from including in applications or external links or links to actions that redirect people to other payment mechanisms, in addition to those available directly from Apple.
  
  

Epic loses because the judge did not agree with them in particular. In fact, Epic actually has to pay $ 3.6 million to Apple, the equivalent of the commission it would have owed if it hadn't implemented a direct payment system in Fortnite, but that's literally nothing compared to the stakes. true of the process. Fortnite generates hundreds of millions of dollars in annual sales, and Epic has lost heaps of money by missing so many months (and many more) from the AppStore.

The thing is this: You download a game. You want to buy a premium skin or a power-up in the game. The game sells for $ 10, of which the developer takes $ 7 and Apple takes $ 3, and the transaction is made through Apple systems. The problem is that Epic had introduced in Fortnite, against the rules of the AppStore, a section that said "hey, you can buy this skin directly from our site for $ 7", thus bypassing Apple. The customer had to win, that he paid less, Epic had to win, that he kept all the money, Apple was just losing.

Apple is losing because it must now allow developers to use other payment methods, some that are beyond Apple's control and therefore not taxable by them. It's still unclear what Apple should allow to use an external button or link to such a system and how big and visible this button can be, but it's clear that a lot of payments could now be made outside the systems. Apple. As the AppStore brings tens of billions of dollars annually to the company, the potential loss is billions of dollars.

Of course, not all transactions would move outside of Apple. Small developers, those who make an application and offer a premium version of it for what they want extra functions, probably can not afford their own payment system and will prefer that Apple take care of everything in exchange for a commission. There is a break even somewhere and there is another for every program or game.

Then, the simplicity in use for the end customer also matters. If you are playing, you want a power-up and the simplest solution is to press buy and have already activated it, because Apple already has your bank card and everything set up, then you will prefer to do this than to register who knows what site and manually enter the card and so on. But if you have to pay something more expensive and the difference is $ 70 at developers versus $ 90 at Apple, you will probably prefer the extra effort.

It remains to be seen what will happen in the future. I'm not sorry for Apple, they have extremely high revenues, but at the same time we must not forget that they developed a successful phone and an online store that allowed millions of developers to make money with Apple.

Without Apple, a billion-dollar industry would not exist, because Android is not able to rise there. Epic appealed. It will be a long time before a new decision, and until then Apple goes further, Epic looks from the outside at how the world is having fun.

Image Sources:

Apple faces Epic Games in court

Youtube:

Epic v. Apple trial is over.