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The existence of this video demonstrates that Epic Games anticipated the App Store ban long before they made their recent update to bypass Apple's payment syste

The existence of this video demonstrates that Epic Games anticipated the App Store ban long before they made their recent update to bypass Apple's payment system. The entire thing looks like a thinly-veiled attempt to abandon the Fortnite mobile apps, and direct community blame on Apple.

Sephr 6y ago
This app can still be installed manually on Android if you download it directly from Epic's website.
jsheard 6y ago
Fortnite was among the top 10 highest grossing games on the App Store, why would they want to abandon the mobile versions?
- guidedlight 6y ago
  Fortnite is a console-quality game, so it may have trouble with continuing support for the low-power passively cooled CPU/GPU's found in mobile devices.
  - javagram 6y ago
    The Nintendo Switch uses a mobile chip as well. There’s not really any reason to believe that Epic is having trouble supporting the game on ARM.
    - guidedlight 6y ago
      Nintendo Switch is a gaming device featuring a 720p display. An iPad is a general purpose feature with 4x the pixel resolution.
      - kcb 6y ago
        Games generally don't render at native resolution on phones.
    - fomine3 6y ago
      I don't think running game on iPhone is problem, but Nintendo Switch (or say gaming console) might have better cooling design compared to smartphone.
      - sangnoir 6y ago
        No "might" there - the switch has a heatsink + fan(s), sizable vents and probably a much larger battery (when portable, unlimited power supply when docked). The Switch works with a much larger power budget compare to the iPhone - input and output.
  - joegibbs 6y ago
    Does that really matter though if they have 100,000,000+ downloads on iOS? It would make sense to just do whatever you can to work around performance issues when it brings in the amount of money it does.
  - 1123581321 6y ago
    Anecdotally, I haven’t found that to be the case on the A10 through A12 chips. I’m impressed with Epic’s engineering.
gpm 6y ago
The entire thing looks like a successful attempt to get standing to sue Apple for their anti-competitive actions, and you know, get some free PR while you do what you need to do to make millions more dollars because why not.
- chrischen 6y ago
  I don't get how any of this relates to anti-competition, since Fortnite doesn't compete with Apple, and is using and capitalizing on the money making potential of the app store (and refusing to pay the fees). Meanwhile Apple's actual competition in the App store market does the exact same ban... In an actual court of law (rather than court of public opinion) there is no way Epic will win especially since Google took the same stance. At the end of the day Fortnite/Epic is just trying to maximize their shareholder value in leveraging lower/no fees from Apple for a revenue source for them that is frankly optional (iOS/Google Play are just two platforms they can choose to offer their app, and there is competition from the Windows and macOS platforms as well which do not charge these fees). Even if Epic wins you're still not going to jailbreak your phone and install malware the way you really want to. The "anti-competition" platform is great because consumers just want to install random apps on their phones, but we bought our iPhones/Google phones knowing the app store was restricted to those who paid... we still did it.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - gpm 6y ago
    > Meanwhile Apple's actual competition in the App store market does the exact same ban Google Play doesn't compete with Apple's app store or Apple's payment processing... since you can't install Google Play on IPhones. Fortnite does compete with Apple, in terms of payment processing. Fortnite chose to do it themselves (to get standing), and were promptly banned from operating on IPhones. Epic Games distributes Fortnite themselves in their own app store, but apple has prevented that app store from being installed on IPhones. > In an actual court of law (rather than court of public opinion) there is no way Epic will win especially since Google took the same stance. You definitely shouldn't be stating this this strongly. You might think it's a weak argument (I don't), but it's certainly far from hopeless. If you'll excuse the appeal to authority (since repeating the fine legal arguments in the brief seems pointless, you can read them better written there). Look at who has signed onto this complaint for a moment. The lawyers representing Epic Games include a former Federal Trade Commissioner and senate confirmed assistant Attorney General heading the anti-trust division (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_A._Varney https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_A._Varney) and a former judge (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_B._Forrest https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_B._Forrest). You don't get people like this to represent you if they don't agree with you.
paxys 6y ago
It was a 100% planned response, but there is no way in hell they willingly want to kill apps that make them millions of dollars a day in sales.
- Fjolsvith 6y ago
  Well, certainly they wouldn't do it for millions plus 30% of dollars a day in sales.
jonas21 6y ago
If you're going to take on the world's most valuable company, it's irresponsible not to game out every likely outcome and be prepared to respond. Yes, Epic anticipated that a ban was one possible outcome -- but that doesn't mean they thought it was the only one. If Apple had reacted differently, this video would never have seen the light of day, and Epic would've wasted thousands of dollars producing it -- but that's a small price to pay when billions are at stake.
andrei_says_ 6y ago
I love this comment because it exemplifies how easy it is to mix facts (the first part) and fabrication (the second part) and how facts make an obviously made up statement sound legitimate.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
onetimemanytime 6y ago
They knew that they would be banned so they had the ad and lawsuit ready to go. Obvious and pretty smart once they decided that paying 30% Apple is way too much. This is horrible timing with the monopoly talk in the media and Congress. I hope they win.

Sephr 6y ago

This app can still be installed manually on Android if you download it directly from Epic's website.

jsheard 6y ago

Fortnite was among the top 10 highest grossing games on the App Store, why would they want to abandon the mobile versions?

guidedlight 6y ago
Fortnite is a console-quality game, so it may have trouble with continuing support for the low-power passively cooled CPU/GPU's found in mobile devices.
- javagram 6y ago
  The Nintendo Switch uses a mobile chip as well. There’s not really any reason to believe that Epic is having trouble supporting the game on ARM.
  - guidedlight 6y ago
    Nintendo Switch is a gaming device featuring a 720p display. An iPad is a general purpose feature with 4x the pixel resolution.
    - kcb 6y ago
      Games generally don't render at native resolution on phones.
  - fomine3 6y ago
    I don't think running game on iPhone is problem, but Nintendo Switch (or say gaming console) might have better cooling design compared to smartphone.
    - sangnoir 6y ago
      No "might" there - the switch has a heatsink + fan(s), sizable vents and probably a much larger battery (when portable, unlimited power supply when docked). The Switch works with a much larger power budget compare to the iPhone - input and output.
- joegibbs 6y ago
  Does that really matter though if they have 100,000,000+ downloads on iOS? It would make sense to just do whatever you can to work around performance issues when it brings in the amount of money it does.
- 1123581321 6y ago
  Anecdotally, I haven’t found that to be the case on the A10 through A12 chips. I’m impressed with Epic’s engineering.

gpm 6y ago

The entire thing looks like a successful attempt to get standing to sue Apple for their anti-competitive actions, and you know, get some free PR while you do what you need to do to make millions more dollars because why not.

chrischen 6y ago
I don't get how any of this relates to anti-competition, since Fortnite doesn't compete with Apple, and is using and capitalizing on the money making potential of the app store (and refusing to pay the fees). Meanwhile Apple's actual competition in the App store market does the exact same ban... In an actual court of law (rather than court of public opinion) there is no way Epic will win especially since Google took the same stance. At the end of the day Fortnite/Epic is just trying to maximize their shareholder value in leveraging lower/no fees from Apple for a revenue source for them that is frankly optional (iOS/Google Play are just two platforms they can choose to offer their app, and there is competition from the Windows and macOS platforms as well which do not charge these fees). Even if Epic wins you're still not going to jailbreak your phone and install malware the way you really want to. The "anti-competition" platform is great because consumers just want to install random apps on their phones, but we bought our iPhones/Google phones knowing the app store was restricted to those who paid... we still did it.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- gpm 6y ago
  > Meanwhile Apple's actual competition in the App store market does the exact same ban Google Play doesn't compete with Apple's app store or Apple's payment processing... since you can't install Google Play on IPhones. Fortnite does compete with Apple, in terms of payment processing. Fortnite chose to do it themselves (to get standing), and were promptly banned from operating on IPhones. Epic Games distributes Fortnite themselves in their own app store, but apple has prevented that app store from being installed on IPhones. > In an actual court of law (rather than court of public opinion) there is no way Epic will win especially since Google took the same stance. You definitely shouldn't be stating this this strongly. You might think it's a weak argument (I don't), but it's certainly far from hopeless. If you'll excuse the appeal to authority (since repeating the fine legal arguments in the brief seems pointless, you can read them better written there). Look at who has signed onto this complaint for a moment. The lawyers representing Epic Games include a former Federal Trade Commissioner and senate confirmed assistant Attorney General heading the anti-trust division (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_A._Varney https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_A._Varney) and a former judge (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_B._Forrest https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_B._Forrest). You don't get people like this to represent you if they don't agree with you.

paxys 6y ago

It was a 100% planned response, but there is no way in hell they willingly want to kill apps that make them millions of dollars a day in sales.

Fjolsvith 6y ago
Well, certainly they wouldn't do it for millions plus 30% of dollars a day in sales.

jonas21 6y ago

If you're going to take on the world's most valuable company, it's irresponsible not to game out every likely outcome and be prepared to respond. Yes, Epic anticipated that a ban was one possible outcome -- but that doesn't mean they thought it was the only one. If Apple had reacted differently, this video would never have seen the light of day, and Epic would've wasted thousands of dollars producing it -- but that's a small price to pay when billions are at stake.

andrei_says_ 6y ago

I love this comment because it exemplifies how easy it is to mix facts (the first part) and fabrication (the second part) and how facts make an obviously made up statement sound legitimate.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

onetimemanytime 6y ago

They knew that they would be banned so they had the ad and lawsuit ready to go. Obvious and pretty smart once they decided that paying 30% Apple is way too much. This is horrible timing with the monopoly talk in the media and Congress. I hope they win.