- August 13th is going to go down
as one of the biggest drama days
in the tech world here in 2020,
as Epic Games had us all glued to social media.
Their plan was simple.
Bait Apple and Google into banning Fortnite
from their stores with a full on game plan
ready to be set in motion.
Regardless of what you think of Epic
and which side of the argument you fall on,
watching their plan unfold was a sight to see.
What's going on, tech squad?
Andru Edwards here.
And if you missed the drama that went down with Epic Games,
I'm here to bring you a quick summary.
In short, Fortnite, one of the most popular games
of all time, and certainly one of the most popular games
of the modern era, has been banned by Apple
from its iOS App Store, and has been banned by Google
from the Play Store over on Android.
The reason for this is that Epic games,
the maker of Fortnite, added a new in-app purchase option,
which would allow a user to buy in-game currency
at a discounted rate, If they paid Epic games directly,
as opposed to using the in-app purchase system
on both iOS and Android
This meant Epic wouldn't be giving a cut
of the revenue to Apple or Google.
And this was a blatant disregard
for the rules of both platforms.
And as a result, Fortnite was banned.
From there it became obvious that this was a setup
as Epic games had lawsuits ready to go.
First, Epic announced that it was suing Apple,
written in human readable language no less,
rather than a bunch of legalese,
Epic made an antitrust argument that alleged
that Apple has a monopoly over iOS software distribution,
not a monopoly over all smartphones.
Then there was the in-game reveal
of Nineteen Eighty-Fortnite, a take on Apple's iconic 1984
Super Bowl commercial and advertising campaign.
This video was impressive in almost every sense of the word.
It mirrored the message that Apple was presenting
back when Apple wanted to position IBM
as the big bad monster.
And the video replicated this shot for shot.
But now with Apple taking the place of IBM
as the big corporate behemoth who dominates the industry,
It's worth watching if you haven't seen it.
The video shows that Epic games isn't just battling
Apple in the court of law,
but also in the court of public opinion,
which may be even more important.
Fortnite is a beast when it comes to attention,
and it's one of the most downloaded
and played apps of all time.
If users start getting left out of new seasons,
and if new users can't install the game on their devices,
and Epic points the finger at Apple,
there's a chance we could see
some serious backlash from users.
This is in addition to some of the heat X-Box gamers
have been feeling towards Apple over the past week
due to their decision to not allow X-Box Game Pass
cloud streaming on iOS, essentially making it
an Android exclusive on mobile.
Microsoft condemned Apple for blocking the new game
streaming service on iPhones and iPads,
saying Apple stands alone as the only
general purpose platform to deny consumers
from cloud gaming and game subscription services
like Xbox Game Pass.
But that wasn't it though, as just a little while later,
Google kicked Fortnite out of the Google Play Store.
However, the difference there is that
while Fortnite broke Google Play Store rules,
on the Android side of things, you can install apps
using other stores.
For example, you can just download Fortnite
through the Samsung Galaxy app store on Android,
which Epic doesn't mind because they don't have to pay
Samsung or anyone else a 30% fee of in-app purchases.
But there's no such option over on iOS.
As you might've guessed, Epic responded
with a ready-made lawsuit against Google as well.
Although there was no slick video parody for this one,
the lawsuit did make light of the fact
that Google's don't be evil motto no longer applied.
With a Google lawsuit, we also got information
that Google forced OnePlus to kill a deal
with Epic Games that would have put
a Fortnite launcher on their phones.
For anyone who thought that Android
was simply an open platform that phone manufacturers
could use however they saw fit,
that hasn't been the case for a long time.
Epic Games said that Google demanded that OnePlus
not implement its agreement with Epic,
with the limited exception of mobile devices sold in India.
Epic also alleges that Google prevented LG
from pre-installing the Epic Games app
on LG devices, because in LG's words,
LG had a contract to block side downloading
off of Google Play Store this year.
Now this was a great play that only a great storyteller
could put together.
And it's no surprise that video game maker Epic Games,
worth $17.3 billion, was able to pull this off.
Epic Games is uniquely positioned
to fight both Apple and Google with a game that's played
around the world by more than 350 million people.
Epic Games CEO, Tim Sweeney said,
we're fighting for open platforms
and policy changes equally benefiting all developers,
and it'll be a hell of a fight.
I'll note that Epic's legal team here
includes Christine Varney,
a former US assistant attorney general
of the antitrust division,
and former federal trade commissioner.
As well as Katherine Forrest,
a former judge and antitrust litigator,
and a partner at the firm that was part of Qualcomm's
infamous lawsuit against Apple.
But now I want to hear from you guys.
As far as I was concerned, I was highly entertained
watching how this all unfolded.
Like I said, this is kind of like
a Hollywood blockbuster style plot.
And it provided some much needed distraction here in 2020.
But what do you think, is Epic games correct?
Maybe not for blatantly breaking rules,
but in their thought process that developers
shouldn't be held to that 30% tax
that Apple and Google want to charge.
Or, are Apple and Google correct
as the companies that built and lay the foundation
of their stores and devices.
Of course, the one difference between Apple and Google,
iOS and Android is that on Android,
you can still, as I said,
use alternate app stores if you want to.
Whereas on iOS, you're completely locked out
if you can't be in the App Store.
Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below,
and I'll meet you there for further discussion.
Thank you so much for watching this one as always guys.
I appreciate your support.
I'm Andru Edwards, and I will catch you in the next video.