[NEWS] Apple terminates Epic Games? App Store account

[Your Name]

This is from Macworld.co.uk, but the news has been on various wesbites
over the last few days.


Apple terminates Epic Games' App Store account
----------------------------------------------
You can no longer download any app made by Epic on Apple devices.

Apple has officially terminated Epic Games' App Store account,
Apple confirmed to The Verge.

The move follows the ongoing dispute between Apple and Epic over
in-app payments that saw Epic break the App Store rules by adding
a direct payment option to Fortnite that bypassed observing
Apple's 30% commission rule.

It means you can no longer download Fortnite or other Epic games
such as Infinity Blade on iPhone, iPad, or Mac. You can't even
download them if you downloaded them previously, but they aren't
currently on your device.

It also means that the new Marvel-tinged season of Fortnite is
not coming to Apple devices.

Apple's statement reads:
"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."

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney replied to a 9to5Mac tweet disputing the
wording of Apple's statement:

Tim Sweeney [@TimSweeneyEpic]
Apple's statement isn't forthright. They chose to
terminate Epic's account; they didn't *have* to.

Apple suggests we spammed the App Store review
process. That's not so. Epic submitted three
Fortnite builds: two bug-fix updates, and the
Season 4 update with this note.

"Hello,

Fortnite build v14.0 with new Season 4 has
been uploaded through App Store Content.

This build continues to offer customers
the choice of in-app purchases through
either Apple's payment solution or through
Epic direct payment. Epic is submitting
this version in case Apple wishes to
restore Fortnight to the App Store in time
for Season 4 launch.

Thanks"

It is not clear how the situation will proceed. Epic is suing
Apple based on the claim that its 30% commission rule is unfair
on developers. But in having its apps on the App Store, Epic
had to agree to those terms, and then is accused of breaking
them, so any court ruling is likely to side with Apple. A first
court hearing implied a ruling may stop short of disrupting
other developers' access to Epic's Unreal Engine platform,
though.


<https://www.macworld.co.uk/news/apple/apple-terminates-epic-games-app-store-account-3794702/>

[Unbreakable Disease]

That's why we need to develop a new mobile operating system, preferably
cross-platform so it's the similar experience on phones, tablets,
laptops, desktop computers, TVs and watches. If people want to play the
game, let them play. After more than 30 years of using Apple computers,
goodbye! My current Macintosh will be the last one.

As for Epic's games, I didn't like Unreal Tournament and played Quake
III. I don't understand Fortnite maybe I'm too old.


--
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bitcoin:bc1qtwmjzywve5v7z6jzk4dkg7v6masw2erpahsn9f

[Savageduck]

On Aug 30, 2020 at 10:49:09 PM PDT, "Your Name" <Your...@YourISP.com> wrote:

>
> This is from Macworld.co.uk, but the news has been on various wesbites
> over the last few days.
>
>
> Apple terminates Epic Games' App Store account
> ----------------------------------------------
> You can no longer download any app made by Epic on Apple devices.

...and this is a problem?

--
Regards,
Savageduck

[Lewis]

Nope. Epic is being a slimy shit and continuing to insist the rules do
not apply to them because they are super special.

The can fuck off.

--
With excitement like this, who is needing enemas?

[Peter Köhlmann]

Am 15.01.21 um 04:43 schrieb Savageduck:

Yes.

[Savageduck]

On Jan 15, 2021 at 3:15:27 AM PST, "Peter Köhlmann"

Not for me it isn’t. I have never had a desire, or need to download any app
made by Epic. As a matter of fact I couldn't name a single app made by Epic.
So I have yet to identify a problem.

--
Regards,
Savageduck

[Peter Köhlmann]

Am 15.01.21 um 12:56 schrieb Savageduck:

I see. Not enough brains to see the general problem

[Savageduck]

On Jan 15, 2021 at 4:26:07 AM PST, "Peter Köhlmann"

Nope! Enough brain to not need the distraction of infantile games to get
through the day.
--
Regards,
Savageduck

[Peter Köhlmann]

Am 15.01.21 um 13:53 schrieb Savageduck:

Exactly like I said. Not enough brains. A game is not the general problem.

[Lewis]

Epic made their decision. Then they doubled down on their decision, then
they doubled down again, ignoring the judge's recommendation. Apple has
no reason to keep the apps in the store.

Epic can fuck off.

--
"Are you pondering what I'm pondering?"
"I think so, Brain, but me and Pippi Longstocking -- I mean, what
would the children look like?"

[Lewis]

In message <rts419$8rc$1...@dont-email.me> Peter Köhlmann <peter-k...@t-online.de> wrote:
> Exactly like I said. Not enough brains. A game is not the general problem.

Epic sneaking their own payment system into their app in violation of
the contract they agreed to is the problem. It is exactly the same as if
they had set up their own cash registers in WalMart.

Epic can fuck off.


--
"Are you pondering what I'm pondering?"

"I think so, Brain, but I didn’t know 90210 was a real zip code! Will
Tori be there?"

[Alan Browne]

On 2021-01-15 13:30, Jolly Roger wrote:

> On 2021-01-15, Peter Köhlmann <peter-k...@t-online.de> wrote:
>>
>> I see. Not enough brains to see the general problem
>

> My god you dipshits really are this fucking weak and pathetic.
>


I really wish everyone had noticed that "Unbreakable" resurrected a
thread that's been dead for many months ...


--
"...there are many humorous things in this world; among them the white
man's notion that he is less savage than the other savages."
-Samuel Clemens

[Your Name]

At the moment, for you, obviously not. At the moment for most Mac
users, probably not. Even if Apple simply closed the Mac App Store
completely, it wouldn't currently be much of an issue (other than some
users potentially downloading apps from questionable sources).

The bigger problem could be iOS apps. All the teens busy playing
Fortnight, etc. on their parent-bought iPhones and iPads. If they can't
play those popular games, then they may well insist on changing to
Android devices, and then school follow the preference.

The even bigger problem is that it isn't just Epic. There are a growing
number of greedy companies now complaining, including Microsoft and
Adobe, so the problm could get bigger with them all expecting something
from Apple for free.

[Richard L. Hamilton]

In article <rtq4od$vf3$1...@dont-email.me>,
Unbreakable Disease <unbre...@secmail.pro> writes:
[...]

> That's why we need to develop a new mobile operating system, preferably
> cross-platform so it's the similar experience on phones, tablets,
> laptops, desktop computers, TVs and watches. If people want to play the
> game, let them play. After more than 30 years of using Apple computers,
> goodbye! My current Macintosh will be the last one.
>
> As for Epic's games, I didn't like Unreal Tournament and played Quake
> III. I don't understand Fortnite maybe I'm too old.
>
>

Granted that any company that wants to stay in business is motivated by
profit (although perhaps not ONLY by profit), there are counter-arguments
to what you've said:

* desktops, laptops, tablets, phones, TVs, and watches are only similar
to a limited degree. The input devices vary WIDELY, as does the available
screen real estate, and unless one makes very awkward tradeoffs, that
limits how similar they can appear or be interacted with. I think Apple does
a quite good job balancing that; and I understand that the new Apple Silicon
Macs can also run quite a few iPad apps.

* desktops and laptops are general purpose devices, and to the extent they're
locked down, the administrator at least is free to reduce the lockdown to
what serves their purposes. Phones and watches and TVs are less general
purpose (tablets started out like phones, but are kind of in the middle now).
Special purpose devices IMO _should_ be locked down and/or curated, not
forcing parental controls on adults, but having standards of what can be
put on them. You can still put your own code on an iDevice, but only with
the $200/yr (last I checked) certificate can you distribute it independently
and without regard to App Store rules, and then only to your own employees
(or perhaps partners) that have installed the profile that allows it; and
if Apple revokes certificates used for defacto competing app stores that
distribute their profiles more widely than the agreemenet allows, I just
don't see the problem.

I COULD see that the rate they charge for in-app purchases that don't
compete with them for media or services and dont significantly burden
Apple's infrastructure, could be reduced, not to zero, but perhaps by
1/2 to 2/3; they've done 1/2 for small developers (< $1 million/yr, I think
it was). But that's a business choice IMO (with plausible arguments pro
at least as much as con), and not something that should be forced on them.
But other terms for the App Store, esp, relating to privacy, security,
required notifications, permitted interfaces, use of location data,
etc seem perfectly reasonable, and likely to uphold user privacy and
device stability.

The last of those is a particular deal with special purpose devices. Yes,
you can add apps, but in the final analysis, a phone needs to do its
communications tasks, and a TV is a video display for fairly mindless uses,
needing to be reliable for those who never could figure out how to get their
VCR to stop blinking 12:00. And connected devices like phones, in their
vast numbers, if subverted into 'bots, could be a nightmare seldom seen before.

[Richard L. Hamilton]

In article <slrns028ti....@m1mini.local>,
Lewis <g.k...@kreme.dont-email.me> writes:
[sig]

>With excitement like this, who is needing enemas?

I must've been reading too fast, I thought the last word was "emacs"
(an editor that some people use to do everything in, but not universally
loved). :-)

[Richard L. Hamilton]

In article <rts419$8rc$1...@dont-email.me>,

No, the general problem is those who want NO rules, or want to do in-app
purchases with little or no cut to Apple. They're like anarchists, a riot
waiting to happen, or parasites. Vermin should be stepped on until they splat.

You want a platform that lets anyone do anything, make your own platform.
Good luck with that, even if you can sell it, it'll be broken all the time.