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The most interesting thing to me in this case is Epic refusing Google's $150 million 'offer', and instead relying on the courts. Epic could have accepted that o
by somenameforme 3y ago
The most interesting thing to me in this case is Epic refusing Google's $150 million 'offer', and instead relying on the courts. Epic could have accepted that offer with zero risk, and been all the better off for it, with zero risk. Of course everybody else would be left behind. But by going all the way, and refusing the pay off, they instead make a better world for everybody.
- lnxg33k1 3y agoExcept the kids they keep exploiting for micro transactions, just lets keep it in mind that we’re talking about a business here, not some sort of good will charity
- aerhardt 3y agoWhat did this case have to do with any of that?
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- bubblethink 3y agoThe case is about who gets what fraction of the microtransactions - Google or Epic (after accounting for the game dev's share).
- aerhardt 3y agoI get that but what does that have to do with whether devs use microtransactions or not in their games? The kids will be subjected to them whether Epic or Google takes the lion’s share.
- lnxg33k1 3y agoI am probably from a different time, before the advent of blogs, where journalists were not half-carpet/half-tongue creatures just reading a script and asking CEOs "what is your favourite playable character?", but this article is just a scandal, there is no question that upsets the CEO, I would bet everything that I have, that if 30 years ago a CEO would be in front of some journalist saying "We want to make the world better", the journalist would have pointed out the ways the CEO's own company makes the world worser
- lnxg33k1 3y agoFor me nothing , but has something to do with all this god saviour speech going on in the interview and in this thread, someone has to point out that, I thought I’d have expected a journalist from better times, not accepting to be put there just to buttlick, to also ask questions not given by the press department, when the ceo said we want to make the world better, if they would have also stopped exploting kids in order to achieve that, but now newspapers are just external press departments
- TerrifiedMouse 3y agoSeems everyone forgot that Epic was fined over half a billion by the FTC for “Violating Children's Privacy and Engaging in Dark Pattern Deception”. https://gizmodo.com/epic-fortnite-gaming-ftc-dark-patterns-1849910901 https://gizmodo.com/epic-fortnite-gaming-ftc-dark-patterns-1... They are as unethical as they come.
- zigzag312 3y agoLet's not forget that Google isn't any better in that regard: > Google Is Fined $170 Million for Violating Children’s Privacy on YouTube https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/04/technology/google-youtube-fine-ftc.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/04/technology/google-youtube... > 15 privacy violation settlements amounting to roughly $1 billion between 2011 and 2023 with government regulators in various countries and private litigants https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/23/google_childrens_privacy_lawsuit/ https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/23/google_childrens_priv...
- lnxg33k1 3y agoHardly agree, so all this corp speech about making the world better.. for their shareholders maybe, but lets ignore these CEOs acting as world saviors, how annoying
- zigzag312 3y agoBut in this case, they are doing a good thing. Or do you believe that we should not acknowledge any positive actions from someone who has done something wrong in the past?
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- heavyset_go 3y agoGoogle promotes the in-app purchase model they profit from and takes a cut from every microtransaction made on all Android apps in the Play Store.
- sourcegrift 3y agoEven their layoffs were principled? 6 months severance?
- dannyw 3y agoSomething only possible with a principled majority shareholder.
- 7734128 3y agoIt's unfortunate that Epic is never given the goodwill they deserve for this fight. (I still hate their exclusivity deals, but I don't let that poison other aspects)
- sonicanatidae 3y agoWhy not? Assholes are still assholes, even when they do something for everyone else, once.
- RockRobotRock 3y agoExclusivity deals suck but I would redirect more of your anger to greedy storefronts like Steam which take 30% (25% after $10,000,000 in sales) of revenue compared to Epic's 12%.
- ocdtrekkie 3y agoYeah it's worth nothing that Steam is allegedly responsible for the default 30% cut number app stores get, by sort of arbitrarily picking it, and that Steam is an absolutely crushing monopoly that has so much of a vice grip on the PC gaming space that when you go outside of it, tons of people whine and cry because everything is expected to just use the thing that takes a third of all revenue. Nobody likes buying exclusives, but it's basically the only way to break into a market under such heavy capture.
- Jensson 3y agoSteam adds a lot of features to games though over just having a windows install. Setting up multiplayer for indie games before steam was always annoying, with steam it is very easy and gives a uniform way to play with friends for every game I own there. There are many such quality of life things from steam, to me as a user it means I prefer paying more for games in steam than to pay for it without steam.
- ocdtrekkie 3y ago> adds a lot of features to games though over just having a windows install Sure, and that goes into ways it should be able to compete well with other stores, not just be "the default". > a uniform way Also known as "a complete monopoly", and this is exactly the mountain that any competitor has to completely break. Epic's use of both paid exclusives and free games is to build you enough of a library that you (and your friends) likely have and want to play at least some Epic Games, and hence, already have both Epic and Steam installed. Only once both stores are somewhat similarly available to you, can Epic really compete on the price and features aspects. EDIT: The other thing that's important to realize about monopolies is that nothing remains the same forever. You might like Steam today, and feel we should all just let Steam be a monopoly because they're "good", but what happens when Gabe retires and a private equity firm comes in? The only difference between Steam and Ticketmaster is that Steam hasn't tried to maximize value extraction yet.
- k__ 3y agoThe games industry is a Leviathan, just like movies and music. If one Leviathan threatens another, things get ugly.
- ryao 3y agoTim Sweeney will get even more money this way. I am also not convinced this makes things better for everyone. The majority of users need devices that protect them from being tricked into installing malware by black hats. The only way to do that is to create devices where they are incapable of doing that even under duress. Eliminating barriers to doing that is not doing many gullible people a favor. There will undoubtedly be more malware attacks on unsuspecting victims if Google is forced to make things better for Epic, and Tim Sweeney does not care that his additional revenue from this if it is allowed to stand means that regular people will suffer. Note that Sweeney is no stranger to harming others to enrich himself: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2022/12/fortnite-video-game-maker-epic-games-pay-more-half-billion-dollars-over-ftc-allegations https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2022/12/... I find the idea that his actions are making the world better to be ridiculous. Overall, they are making the world worse. I guess I should not be surprised that his propaganda about making the world better has gained traction. Most people who hear it do not have the full picture to consider and will happily consider only what they have been told. :/
- cedws 3y agoWhat would stop Google rescinding or changing the terms of that deal at any time? It would be better for Epic to fight for something enshrined in law.
- eviks 3y agoIt's not zero risk, the risk is lower revenue with this offer vs the more competitive alternative