this post was submitted on 16 Aug 2024
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Honestly I know people here are against Epic, but Google Play is such garbage that I welcome the epic store on Android.

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[–] helenslunch@feddit.nl 53 points 3 months ago (3 children)

I hate Epic and won't buy any of their games but I respect that they've taken Apple, Google, and Samsung to the cleaners over this shit.

[–] Nibodhika@lemmy.world 34 points 3 months ago (1 children)

But they didn't. Let's look at the facts:

  1. There are alternative stores on Android since forever.
  2. From 1, Opening a secondary store on Android was always an option.
  3. 30% they claim is abusive is the industry standard, i.e. no one is taking advantage of their monopoly to enforce that, because even in markets without a monopoly that's the amount charged.
  4. Epic lost their lawsuit against Apple, which was the only company he was suing that actually enforced a monopoly in their platform.
  5. Secondary stores are allowed on Apple in the EU as a result of DMA which has nothing to do with Epic.
  6. From 5, Opening a secondary store on Apple is now an option regardless of what Epic did.

So you have one company that sued two others to be able to launch their store there, one of the companies wasn't preventing them from doing so, and they lost their lawsuit against the other one. Completely unrelated to that, the EU forced that second company to allow third-party stores. Conclusion, Epic's lawsuit has nothing to do with this announcement.

[–] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 20 points 3 months ago (3 children)
[–] helenslunch@feddit.nl 16 points 3 months ago (3 children)

None of that means Google wasn't exploiting anticompetitive measures to ensure everyone has to pay their exorbitant 30% tax in their app store. At least, that's what the State of California determined when Epic took them to court.

[–] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 13 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I'm pointing out that what the article is showing (Epic opening their own app store) was always an option for them. The court ruling on Google's app store didn't enable that. It was always an option. This isn't true on the Apple side, though. A non-Apple app store on iOS would be a significant change.

[–] Nibodhika@lemmy.world 7 points 3 months ago (1 children)

The state of California also determined that 30% tax was okay for Apple to charge, so they're not very objective with their determinations.

[–] Rose@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago

One was a jury trial and the other wasn't. Google had plenty of records of their internal communications but Apple had a different practice. This article by The Verge does a decent job at highlighting the differences.

[–] Zorque@lemmy.world 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

You mean the same fee every store under the sun charges? Epic is the only one that doesn't, and they pretty much just do it for marketing.

They are not the good guys. They're Elon Musk before he took the mask off, though it slips through now and then.

[–] helenslunch@feddit.nl -4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

You mean the same fee every store under the sun charges?

Yes, that one.

They are not the good guys.

Didn't say they were.

They're Elon Musk before he took the mask off

Don't know what mask you speak of. Timmy has never had one.

[–] Zorque@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

So you just repeat his talking points because you believe in him?

[–] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Yeah. I've had Amazon's for a very long time. There was never anything preventing epic from making their own store. Epic was trying to make Google play store host the download for the epic game store.

[–] Stovetop@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

It's a bit more than that, though. Epic lost their lawsuit against Apple but they won theirs against Google.

Google was colluding with OEMs to stifle competition on Android, and that practice was determined to be anticompetitive. Sure you could always jump through the Google-mandated hoops and install a third-party store, but then you could also always install other browsers on Windows even when Internet Explorer was the default, and that was also determined to be anticompetitive.

[–] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Which is silly, since Apple has gone beyond colluding, and simply blocks everything they can within their walled garden. You've never even had the option to install other app stores or sideload apps on an iPhone. Meanwhile, you've always been able to on Android. For the past several years it will even hold your hand and highlight/show you what options you need to allow to do it within the OS.

[–] Stovetop@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I agree, but that's what the courts decided. IANAL but I'm assuming it hinges on the pretense that Android is supposed to be an open ecosystem where partners and OEMs are given fair treatment, while iOS is a top-to-bottom "product" controlled by a single company that makes their own business arrangements.

In short, Apple deciding to block Epic from having their own app store, fine. Google bribing/coercing Android OEMs to prioritize the Play Store and not pre-install or facilitate the Epic Store, not fine.

I don't think the courts would have cared if Google locked down their own Pixel phones to block out Epic, but it's the act of throwing their weight around as the OS provider to their business partners (the OEMs) that they took issue with.

[–] trolololol@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago

Yep it's so true that they did it many years ago. This journo must be on drugs.

[–] cordlesslamp@lemmy.today 5 points 3 months ago

The only good thing came out of Fortnite is the money to fund those lawsuits.