Fortnite’s Use on iOS Has Declined
The preliminary injunction hearing on the same two issues--can Epic force Apple to tolerate a version of Fortnite that bypasses its in-app purchasing (IAP) system in contravention of App Store business terms, and can Apple terminate all of Epic’s accounts for distrusting the company after what happened--will take place on September 28. The briefing process kicked off Friday night Pacific Time with Epic filing its motion for a preliminary injunction[…]
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With a view to the prelimininary injunction standard, Epic’s motion argues that the court should not force Epic to comply with terms the game maker describes as anticompetitive and, therefore, illegal, given that Apple could always get its 30% App Store cut later.
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“Over 116 million registered users have accessed Fortnite through iOS—more than any other platform. […] They have spent more than 2.86 billion hours in the app.”
Epic mentions that it’s “likely to suffer irreparable harm” if Fortnite is not made available on the App Store and that “the balance of harms tips strongly in Epic’s favor,” citing that daily iOS active users have already declined by over 60% since the app’s initial removal from the App Store.
The problem for Epic is that it could easily stop that harm by complying with Apple’s rules (for now), lower the prices for everyone, and try to get the money back from Apple later if it wins. Whereas, it’s not so easy to undo the harm to Apple of allowing an app in the store that purposely violates the rules.
Previously:
Update (2020-09-08): See also: Epic Banned From Apple Development for a Year.
Update (2020-10-01): Florian Mueller:
In its opposition brief (filed a few days back), Apple voiced the suspicion that Epic’s very publicity-oriented approach to this litigation was driven by a marketing communications desire to reignite interest in Fortnite. That is one of various factual questions--which also include the accusation of Epic having bullied Sony into modifying its PlayStation terms--Epic CEO Tim Sweeney seeks to counter in his second declaration in this briefing process[…]
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In connection with Fortnite’s popularity, Mr. Sweeney’s declaration--after noting that Google Trends is just about search, not game usage--says “Apple cherry-picked an unusual single-week peak in October 2019 with the average number of searches in July 2020,” and explains that the October 2019 peak was due to a special event called “The End” (where the world of Fortnite was sallowed by a black hole).
Mr. Sweeney says “the number of daily active users on Fortnite actually increased by more than 39%” during that same period (October 2019-July 2020).
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Or ifI’m a gaming that requires mobile play, I’m already looking for another device to play Fortnight on.
Sometimes when the vendor is unreasonable you have to walk away from the deal. Epic will do just fine. The Gamers who pivot to devices that are more optimized to gaming and not locked down to Apple will definitely have a better experience, and where this leaves Apple (less 116M users playing games on their platform)... does anyone care at this point?
Once those iOS (sub optimal UX for gaming) users pivot to something else, they’re not coming back.
Oh please! As if more than a teeny tiny fraction of people will give up iMessage or FaceTime in order to play a game. In the long term this is going to cost Epic a lot more than Apple in terms of users.
Congress may be a different story because they are wankers who couldn’t even figure out that letting social media companies buy each other would be counterproductive for the market.
Oh please! As if more than a teeny tiny fraction of people will give up iMessage or FaceTime in order to play a game.
iMessage seems to be massive in the US, but isn’t in many other regions. WhatsApp seems to be the biggest in Europe, for example.
And if I were Apple, I would see to it that the reason people stick to my platform isn’t its default messenger. Like, I’ve been using and enjoying instant messengers since ICQ in the late 90s, but hopefully Apple can think of additional things that are awesome about its platform.
Congress may be a different story because they are wankers who couldn’t even figure out that letting social media companies buy each other would be counterproductive for the market.
Congress doesn’t run the FTC.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I really hate to say it, but Messages/FaceTime really isn’t “all that,” mostly due to the inconvenience of iCloud when used in “free mode” with the 5GB limit. In my family I’m responsible for “killing and PDF’ing” family threads which I have to do once every 10 months or so. If I don’t do this M/FT bogs down. No other messaging app has this annoying limitation.
Sören is also correct in that M/FT just aren’t used in other places. When I lived in the EU, I used Threema, in Japan LINE is the predominant messaging service. Luckily I can use both to stay in touch with overseas friends.
Back to gaming there is no Zoomer (school aged kids in the US) or any other gen gamer using M/FT for “gamer comms” at all. That crown belongs to Discord. Luckily, also on iOS. A lot of these kids aren’t playing on their phones, they are using their iPhones & Android phones as comm units while playing on a larger screen. On Discord.
Gamers, especially young Zoomers as an aggregate don’t consider iOS an optimal gaming platform. They’re going to go where they can get the best gaming experience and there *are* platforms optimized expressly for gaming.
There are (still) awesome things in iOS/macOS like the platform integration and automation, but current Apple is killing these via neglect and not paying off their “technical debt.” And really getting back on topic the obnoxious push for totally lockdown and no recourse is becoming a dealbreaker for every party involved except Apple.
>As if more than a teeny tiny fraction of people
Ywill give up iMessage or FaceTime in order to
Yplay a game
Lots of kids care a lot more about Marshmello's next virtual live concert or whatever than they care about a blue checkmark.
>In the long term this is going to cost Epic a
>lot more than Apple in terms of users.
That's probably true. Parents aren't going to be happy when their kids ask them to buy a 500$ Android phone to replace their perfectly good 500$ iPhone.
Florian Mueller is a joke in this market, he always, always, always, has the worst, most anti consumer take on everything. He is an IP maximalist. He also argued for years Microsoft was going to beat Barnes and Noble in their lawsuit and Microsoft was doing so poorly they had to settle their own case! The settlement was for Nook to support Windows 10 and Microsoft would pay B&N. That's not a win my man.
I already knew his "side" before even reading the post. Oh well.
