Another thought on Epic/Apple. Yesterday one of my children wanted to listen to an audible book on drive. In order to purchase I had to create a WiFi hotspot to my Apple laptop. The fact that purchas on a laptop OK and phone not is truly arbitrary.

— Bill Gurley (@bgurley) August 14, 2020

Today, any developer on earth uses the same safe, trusted app store and payment system. The smallest developer you never heard of is on the same playing field as Epic. Apple's intermediate layer means you don't have to trust the dev. Epic wants to remove that.

— Benedict Evans (@benedictevans) August 14, 2020

Steve said it best. If the Apple store rules were really that unprofitable, the market would take care of itself by boycotting Apple and moving to another platform. The problem? A competitor would swoop in and develop an app/game for the app store to fill the void. Competition. pic.twitter.com/fuaIL9haAz

— Gregory McFadden (@GregoryMcFadden) August 14, 2020

Why does Apple take more heat on its App Store policies than Google? Simple. People spend A LOT more money on Apple's App Store. Here's what Fortnite $$$ looks like on iOS vs. Android.https://t.co/AjB5jrqxRC pic.twitter.com/xj8p3jsgfa

— Steve Kovach (@stevekovach) August 14, 2020

This is similar to the fallacy 'it's my computer so I should be free to do what I want
It's bad for users for any random app to ask for a card
It's easy for a big trusted brand to do that, but much less so for other developers
Is removing that level playing field good for devs? https://t.co/YGJBG52zC1

— Benedict Evans (@benedictevans) August 14, 2020

The App Store and Google Play take a staggering 30% revenue cut of purchases through their stores. To put that into perspective, Roblox game developers get closer to 20%. #FreeFortnite #FreeRoblox https://t.co/qXCSMJjro5

— Firebrand1 (@JB_Firebrand) August 14, 2020

"Morality is when I get the exact business outcome I want." ? https://t.co/wHyEAkuR6a

— FMPONE (@FMPONE) August 14, 2020

I'm seeing a lot of people say stuff like "Why should I cheer for Epic; they're already rich." Which, of course, is true, but I think misses one of the points of why they're doing this.

Namely, they're the only ones big enough to do this and actually make a difference.

THREAD

— Greg Miller (@GameOverGreggy) August 13, 2020

We should remember everything Epic is currently saying about Apple, just in case Epic ever gets that defacto monopoly it's angling for. We'll see how their stance on anti-corporate freedom fighting holds up.

— Citizen Sterling (@JimSterling) August 14, 2020

If you follow the logic of Epic's argument, iOS wouldn't just have Android's security model - iOS & Android would have the Windows security model.

— Benedict Evans (@benedictevans) August 14, 2020

On the other side of the mirror, look at how Epic runs its store and at how Epic does not allow developers to set up stores to sell plug-ins to Fortnite and other games for free to compete with Epic.

— Exponisity ????? (@exponisity) August 14, 2020

TIL Sony owns 1.4% of Epic. (Tencent owns 40%.) https://t.co/lNFzU5JcTz

— Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie) August 15, 2020

At the most basic level, we’re fighting for the freedom of people who bought smartphones to install apps from sources of their choosing, the freedom for creators of apps to distribute them as they choose, and the freedom of both groups to do business directly.

— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) August 14, 2020

But what they're trying to do with these lawsuits (change the industry standard 30% platform cut) is good.

Now here's the important part: you can think Epic is bad, as an entity, and still think what they're DOING is good. But people want to either HATE them or LOVE them.

— Riley Murdock (@TheRikeys) August 14, 2020

Oh dang, they’re not fighting for 30% of Fortnite sales, they’re fighting for ~12% of everyone elses ?

Makes more sense why they’re prepping to spend this much money on this long shot battle with Apple. They smell the opportunity to become the Steam of mobile pic.twitter.com/SOjn2XLDg4

— Charlie Chapman (@_chuckyc) August 13, 2020

if you want to understand how the gamer world sees the Fortnite / Apple controversy, I think this Twitter moment one-liner sums it up pic.twitter.com/KrmXc5DAEx

— David "bury me with my golden arm" Ruddock (@RDRv3) August 14, 2020

It's astounding how quickly massive corporations adapted to mobilizing their online fanbases against each other over contract disputes. Sony and Disney's battle over Spider-Man walked so Epic vs Apple could run.

— Minovsky (@MinovskyArticle) August 14, 2020

This needed to happen, if you want Apple to amend their App Store policies it will take companies like Epic, Microsoft, Nvidia, Activison, etc to use their influence on the gaming landscape to force change

I want cloud gaming, Fortnite and Call of Duty on iOS

demand change ? https://t.co/F3nfCi77S7

— Parris (@vicious696) August 13, 2020

Epic stands to make millions more *per week* if they skirt Apple’s terms from Fortnite alone. Altruism is not Epic’s motivation to spend this much cash on a lawsuit, it’s a desire for new revenue growth. https://t.co/btAp48sceC

— Jason Stoff ⚜️ (@jstoff) August 14, 2020

Epic Games' internal name for its campaign against Apple and Google is "Project Liberty". Here's MS Word file for the complaint they filed against Google yesterday, after being kicked out of Google's app store. pic.twitter.com/qaLveThgdR

— Peter Kafka (@pkafka) August 14, 2020

One reason I think Epic has a really good case compared to a lot of others is that they passed the discount on. American monopoly law is laser focused on cost to consumer, and Epic can now explicitly point to a case where the consumer is paying more in a monopoly.

— alex hern (@alexhern) August 14, 2020

Just wanna remind everyone a 30% revenue cut on platforms is incredibly standard. In case you didn’t know what YouTube takes from its creators. Epic Games on their own Store takes 12% of revenue (but not 0 like they were pitching with their vbucks in-app purchase) pic.twitter.com/5XUWE5yKau

— Tailosive Tech (@TailosiveTech) August 14, 2020

In the last 30 days, App Store players spent $43.4 million on Fortnite, while the Google Play audience spent just $3.3 millionhttps://t.co/9J7RbRA8Ua

— GamesIndustry (@GIBiz) August 14, 2020

i cant get over the illustration on this piece https://t.co/ZJUHMLxwVs

— andrew webster (@A_Webster) August 14, 2020

The new strategy for going up against the App Store:

1) Break the rules...visibly and willingly.
2) Try to garner goodwill in the press and tech punditry world. Have people focus on Washington going after Apple.
3) Rely on straw man arguments to back up your position.

— Neil Cybart (@neilcybart) August 13, 2020

As a fan of Fortnite (and freedom), I fully support Epic Games in their fight against Apple. The fact that users and developers have been allowing Apple to hold them in digital slavery for over 12 years is an insult to humanity.

— Pavel Durov (@durov) August 14, 2020

Multi billion dollar companies fighting is fun in theory, but watching rich nerds try and out litigate each other is lame af. I want Tim Cook vs Tim Sweeney in the octagon, 3 rounds, loin cloths and war paint, medieval weapons allowed, last one breathing takes all.

— Leon Lush (@LeonLush) August 14, 2020

I saw first hand at MSFT in the mid-00s the harm caused by having developers root against you. Took almost a decade and Satya's ascension to recover from.

Apple may not be able to measure yet the long term impact of having so many developers upset with them.

— Sriram Krishnan (@sriramk) August 13, 2020

So while there's an obvious control/money angle to this Epic vs. Google/Apple battle, there's also a technical reason for this fight. I fully expect Valve, Microsoft, and others to follow in Epic's footsteps here. It's really video games industry vs. Apple/Google.

— Myriam Joire (@tnkgrl) August 14, 2020

This. I really hate seeing people say “why should I care? It’s just 2 huge co’s battling over money.”

Epic is fighting for what indie devs have been complaining about for years.

The minute someone with the money and reach to effectively do so joins in, we should just ignore it? https://t.co/Byq1UygiI7

— Ayden Panhuyzen (@aydenpanhuyzen) August 14, 2020

2020: Epic Games
2004: RealNetworks https://t.co/7tEoXuqcHR

— Kontra (@counternotions) August 14, 2020

I wrote this about the recent battle between Apple and Epic. https://t.co/B6Ygi6BwSD

— Bill Gurley (@bgurley) August 14, 2020

problem: the “mobile” industry in this case includes Nintendo (Switch, on which Fortnite is also available), and the market for this game extends to game consoles and PCs. In that perspective, Apple and Google look more like retailers who charge higher markups.

— Charles Arthur (@charlesarthur) August 14, 2020

Is this a joke?

The more Epic says, the worse they look. pic.twitter.com/PJE3wcLB0c

— Neil Cybart (@neilcybart) August 14, 2020

if anyone was wondering, Valve and Gabe Newell are fully aligned on the side of Epic Games against Apple and their control of the ecosystem. from an interview with Gabe earlier this year

Gaben x Sweeney united pic.twitter.com/qiku7SmGGc

— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) August 14, 2020

Epic will maintain v13.40 for IOS users who have it downloaded, but they will not be able to update or access the new battle pass due to it being pulled from the App Store.

— Lucas7yoshi (@Lucas7yoshi) August 13, 2020

The law firm representing Epic / Fortnite in its antitrust case against Apple and Google also defended Qualcomm against the FTC's antitrust case and Amex in 2018's huge Supreme Court antitrust case. (And won both.)

Safe bet they know what's possible under current law.

— nilay patel (@reckless) August 14, 2020

Epic's Fornite has been removed from the App Store after they implemented direct payments, circumventing Apple's 30% cut.

— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) August 13, 2020

And...Apple yanked it from the App Store. The antitrust hearing was not even two weeks ago. ?

I think there was an argument in 2008 for Apple’s aggressive App Store policies being better for consumers. I don’t think there’s a credible argument today. https://t.co/pTrs7sZELV

— Brianna Wu (@BriannaWu) August 13, 2020

Epic is right to fight Apple, but drafting Fortnite fans into a corporate war is tacky https://t.co/APwBPULHwN pic.twitter.com/gS9kjB1VD7

— PC Gamer (@pcgamer) August 14, 2020

If Epic v Apple was an AITA, I’d probably vote ESH but agree that Epic was ultimately in the right.

For @pcgamer, I dig into how they’ve gone about being right in the worst way:https://t.co/4uyiNtjiGb

— Stacey Henley (@FiveTacey) August 14, 2020

"recruiting children into an army of brand defenders though an in-game event is incredibly strange and could have a long-term effect on how the already-dysfunctional online world operates." - das finde ich ebenfalls bedenklichhttps://t.co/CmpGYYNKT6

— Leya Jankowski (@LeyaJankowski) August 15, 2020

Epic is right to fight Apple, but drafting Fortnite fans into a corporate war is tacky https://t.co/faGE7ivqNR #supportsmallstreamers pic.twitter.com/F9uxqNhzBR

— GbrilliantQ (@GbrilliantQ) August 14, 2020

Except Epic is also Goliathhttps://t.co/e1IahfDQ6k

— Stephen Warwick (@StephenWarwick9) August 14, 2020

Game Makers Give Apple the Antitrust Grilling Congress Didn’t - Complaints from game developers are stacking up. Here’s why game makers are upset and why Apple doesn’t want to ease restrictions. https://t.co/QKwpNlCtcD

— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) August 14, 2020

Huge video game companies are exposing Apple's iOS hypocrisy https://t.co/enoH7wFLQF #tech #feedly

— Nicolas Babin (@Nicochan33) August 15, 2020

Fortnite’s App Store removal is a Trojan Horse, and inside, the Epic Games Store lies in wait. https://t.co/N7zfnsarSR

— Jessica L. Conditt (@JessConditt) August 14, 2020

Huge video game companies are exposing Apple's iOS hypocrisy https://t.co/ZmMMlcCe06 pic.twitter.com/yl024gsq5k

— Engadget Gaming (@engadgetgaming) August 14, 2020

Apple has finally met its Fortnite match https://t.co/7ugAlt49U9 pic.twitter.com/ExXFOxSEbX

— The Verge (@verge) August 15, 2020

Apple has finally met its Fortnite match. This well orchestrated Epic Games stunt is all about forcing Apple to change and getting regulators in the US and EU to listen. Here’s my thoughts: https://t.co/xihVmzjGHk pic.twitter.com/Aekk8A6pPH

— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) August 14, 2020

Apple has finally met its Fortnite match https://t.co/mQ4Qm8L948 pic.twitter.com/BVMUyd6w8z

— The Verge (@verge) August 14, 2020

i cant get over the illustration on this piece https://t.co/ZJUHMLxwVs

— andrew webster (@A_Webster) August 14, 2020

For IGN, I wrote about how Epic’s war against Apple and Google is not altruistic and that they’re weaponizing (often young) fans as conscripts in a billionaire slapfight, but maybe it will luck into being good. https://t.co/BtAm9qf79r pic.twitter.com/joT1bXyekW

— Imran Khan (@imranzomg) August 14, 2020

We like open platforms, too, but recruiting a Fortnite fan army to get mad at Apple is pretty damn weird https://t.co/S2Rk2nNuZS pic.twitter.com/5oRrBesYFZ

— PC Gamer (@pcgamer) August 15, 2020