The Epic Games vs. Apple trial is well under way and it is a complete circus.
From the summaries I've read it seems Epic is shooting themselves in the foot every time one of their executives open their mouths, at least when either Apple's lawyers or the judge can get a straight answer out of them.
In an effort to summarize the summaries, I'll try to be brief but in a nutshell:
Epic's claim to be fighting an unjust monopoly on behalf of everyone went out the window when CEO Tim Sweeney answered “Yes” when asked “If Apple offered you a deal for only yourself, would you have taken it?” So no, Epic isn't fighting on behalf of the greater good...
The Judge essentially asked Sweeney if he understood the contract he willingly signed with Apple in 2010 and if he broke said contract on purpose. Answer: Yes.
Under questioning, Sweeney was forced to admit that they have Fortnite on stores belonging to Apple, Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo. All companies charge Epic 30% and all four forbid them to sell in-game currency without giving the store owner a cut. But, Epic made the least on Apple which alleges that this is why they chose to sue Apple and none of the other companies.
Documents and testimony from Epic proves that Sony charges more from publishers who want their games to have cross-platform play on Playstation. Sony is immediately sued for this and Sony and others are furious over Sweeney & Co. breaking multiple NDA's in court.
Epic recently bought Itch.io but failed to lock down the adult games for sale. If you enter the site the normal way there is an age verification barrier, but if you go through the Epic store, there isn't, allowing underage children to access pornographic games.
Sweeney had to apologize to Ubisoft after fraudulent purchases of Division 2 reached 90%. This is due to a lack of proper security. This isn't the only security problem Epic has but from a business perspective it seems to be the worst.
It seems as if EGS is being investigated by the FTC for COPPA (children's online privacy act) violations. This is not 100% certain as the court was cleared during this part. Time may tell.
Epic's own numbers prove that the Unreal Engine makes them a pittance and that Fornite has earned them $9 billion during the last two years. Even so, the EGS is hemorrhaging money at a fantastic rate. Their own calculations show that the Epic store might become profitable in 2024 after costing them $840 million. In the mean time, exclusives are slowing down as publishers have learned that the Epic exclusives aren't worth it even with the upfront payments. If Fortnite fails for any reason, they are down to the wire, cash wise. Likewise, the numbers demonstrate that while their weekly free game giveaways have boosted the number Epic accounts enormously, only 7% have actually bought anything from the EGS.
Finally the subject of micro-transactions and children has been brought up concerning impulse purchases and predatory sales techniques. This in itself is important as it now has precedent in the US court system.
There is more, so much more, but my space is limited. You can easily find all this stuff with a simple google search if you want to know more.
That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great and safe week!
