Fortnite - A New Game by Epic

A games company abandoning their game isn’t exactly confidence inspiring, not matter the reason.
I didn’t purchase Fortnite - I purchased Save The World, which is a co-op and or solo game.

Yep, same boat. With all the Fortnite cash they’re swimming in you’d think they could at least finish the game that their first fans bought for $40.

Difference being that the part they are abandoning is the one that people BOUGHT, the other was free, and probably in the start subsidised by those that paid for STW.

Dick move by Epic, course, they’re half owned by China so, no surprise.

Hahahaha. What a lame-ass end.

I wonder if they are leaving it a premium experience so 99% of their player base will never buy into it to see its not finished?

Look, if it wouldn’t be because of the success of the f2p BR, they would have pulled the plug two years ago. It never was a successful product.

This could be huge, especially for Apple. They can’t afford to lose Fortnite. I can’t stand Tim Sweeny, but I hope this works out for him.

The logic he’s using to allow people to pay in app is legit IMO. Apple certainly doesn’t get a cut when you use other apps to order food and the like do they? I can’t imagine that’s possible.

They only take a cut on digital goods.

If I buy a gift card that comes as a code through Best Buy’s app, that’s a digital good. I bet Epic would have a case…

And it’s gone from the iOS store.

Sure is.

Apple’s Statement:

Today, Epic Games took the unfortunate step of violating the App Store guidelines that are applied equally to every developer and designed to keep the store safe for our users. As a result their Fortnite app has been removed from the store. Epic enabled a feature in its app which was not reviewed or approved by Apple, and they did so with the express intent of violating the App Store guidelines regarding in-app payments that apply to every developer who sells digital goods or services.

Epic has had apps on the App Store for a decade, and have benefited from the App Store ecosystem - including it’s tools, testing, and distribution that Apple provides to all developers. Epic agreed to the App Store terms and guidelines freely and we’re glad they’ve built such a successful business on the App Store. The fact that their business interests now lead them to push for a special arrangement does not change the fact that these guidelines create a level playing field for all developers and make the store safe for all users. We will make every effort to work with Epic to resolve these violations so they can return Fortnite to the App Store.

This is all helping the DOJ’s case against them. Idiots should work this out before the government makes them.

So where does this leave people that already have Fortnite downloaded, can they still continue to play it on their iOS device or does the app get disabled/removed?

Good question.

I hope this gets us closer to Apple revising their policies, and I admire Epic’s guts in forcing this confrontation.

I kinda don’t specifically want direct purchase options in apps though.

As a consumer, I like the safety and convenience of purchases through Apple’s store, and I’d hate to lose that. But there are a million different angles on all of this that leave me wondering if a solution that’s good for everyone is even possible.

Apple could charge industry standard rates as a payment processor of roughly 3-5%.

I thought Steam charged 30% as well? As well as Google?

Apples view is they do a lot more than just payment processing.

Apple, Steam and Google do indeed charge 30% as content distribution platforms.

In this case I’m suggesting that for in-app purchases the platform holders be treated as a “payment processor” meaning “someone who only processes payments”. For in-app purchases there is no content being distributed so this seems like a fair model.

But what about all the F2P games? That doesn’t seem fair to the platform holders, which do perform a lot of heavy lifting.

I feel the same, but like Google, they should allow side loading. Epic did that on Android but went into the Play store as well, I guess because of improved visibility (and complained about doing so).