Pretty simple answer. in August 2020 they became the first $2 trillion U.S. company. There is no repercussion for them at this point to treat everyone from Ep

Pretty simple answer. in August 2020 they became the first $2 trillion U.S. company. There is no repercussion for them at this point to treat everyone from Epic Games, to your run-of-the-mill Xcode devs, like trash. In the case of the former, you can outlast these comparatively small players for decades with flush cash reserves and an army of bored attorneys with nothing better to do than watch your pittance of a legal team fight it endlessly until the last star falls from the heavens. Epic may want a fight, but its investors would capitulate sooner than people like Tim Sweeney think. as for the latter, Apple has a fun track record of running small developers into the dirt. Either you sell your company to them, or they just build the same app in-house and blacklist you from the market. Id also argue that the average apple afficionado outside of HN just doesnt care what apple does. Apple makes affluent status symbols and markets a premium brand identity, so developers like facebook and epic are hungry to tap into a market thats not only willing to drop more than a grand on a cellphone and accessories, but doesnt question often times predatory microtransactions. They want cash cows, apple runs the farm. full confession though, i dont know how small devs fight this, and id be eager to know if anyone on HN has a cogent strategy? a boycott seems most effective.