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I don't believe so.. As part of Epics business strategy since the Tencent investment they have been working to reduce license and distribution costs across the
by Rapzid 6y ago
I don't believe so.. As part of Epics business strategy since the Tencent investment they have been working to reduce license and distribution costs across the industry to the benefit of a lot of developers; and themselves of course.
Now Epic is worth over $18b, has some VERY big name investors, and controls the most popular game on the planet. They have the power to sway public sentiment against Apple, a legal leg to stand on as far as anti-trust, deep pockets, and powerful friends.
My guess, and hope, is that Epic takes Apple to the cleaners.
- coreblocks 6y agoApple is worth 2 trillion if we are looking at market cap. They can literally buy out epic if they wanted to.
- gpm 6y agoNot necessarily. Tim Sweeney owns more than half of Epic Games, and (presumably, I'm obviously not privy to what contracts he has signed) has no obligation to sell for any amount of money. He is also rich enough to have "fuck the world money" and not accept a price that is far above what his share in Epic Games is actually worth.
- the_hoser 6y agoOnly if Tim is willing to sell it.
- ssivark 6y agoThat would be a stupid strategy for Apple, for a multitude of reasons: 1. Fighting it out in court, and then paying damages is probably going to be cheaper than 18 billion USD. 2. I don’t know if AppStore profits (NPV of discounted future profits) make it even worth 18 billion USD. 3. If they buy out Epic, they’re signaling weakness which is basically asking the next company to play the same game. 4. It just provides more evidence & impetus for those pushing for antitrust action. There is technically a chance Apple might eventually acquire Epic, but if so, that would be driven by Apple seeking an interesting platform for its VR hardware, not to just close down this lawsuit.
- t0mas88 6y agoApple would have to be insane to do that. Within a month they would have the same problem with the rest of the top 10 paid apps.
- gpm 6y ago> My guess, and hope, is that Epic takes Apple to the cleaners. They're not asking for money, they're just asking for an order ordering Apple to stop their anti-competitive behavior with the app store and with payments. No cleaners are likely to be involved in this process win or lose.
- Rapzid 6y agoThat phrase has two common meanings..
- ryandrake 6y agoThis seems like a huge bridge-burning move. If I owned a grocery store chain, and some food company decided to trash me in the press, mock me, and sue me, I would never allow a single one of their products on my store's shelves again, forever, regardless of the outcome. I honestly don't understand what Epic hopes to achieve here. Why wouldn't Apple just ban Epic products from their store for good after this?
- grumple 6y agoEpic probably plans to win the case and force Apple to loosen restrictions on iOS. Apple isn’t the store owner, they are the shelf manufacturer. We are the store owners, and Apple is telling us what we’re allowed to put on our shelves. You know, I don’t think this is a great metaphorical framework.
- ryandrake 6y agoApple definitely is the store owner. They built and run the AppStore app and backend infrastructure, set the rules for what goes on the shelves and what doesn't, take a (large) cut for providing distribution, arrange things on the shelves, point people to products. Whether you disagree with Apple or not in this case, these are functions of a store, and it's clearly Apple's store.