iOS Games

[paul]

Apple Inc. was spared from having to immediately reinstate Epic Games Inc.’s Fortnite on its App Store, an early court victory for the iPhone maker in an intensifying battle over the tolls charged to app makers.

But U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers’s ruling late Monday wasn’t a total loss for Epic, as she granted the company’s request for a temporary order blocking Apple from limiting the game developer’s ability to provide Unreal Engine, key graphics technology, for other apps.

Apple Defeats Epic’s Effort to Restore Fortnite on App Store - Bloomberg

[razvanrazy]

Pai asta era planul Apple - eu asa presupun.

Faza cu UE era un bluff - ar fi fost stupid sa interzica jocurile facute cu UE sau accesul la UE pt facut jocuri. Important era sa nu castige Epic cu Fortnite, restu pe ei nu-i intereseaza.

[ymess]

M-am uitat putin pe Twitterul CEO-ului de la Epic.
Mi se pare ca e un om foarte destept, are un pic atitudine extrema de Robin Hood, nu stiu cat o sa ii iasa dar nici nu pot sa zic ca il sustin 100%.
E un pic ofticat la partea ca Amazon, Uber sau alte firme au un deal cu Apple de 15% din tranzactii, iar Epic nu are.
In schimb, pare ca de mai multa vreme e foarte suparat de politicile de la Apple in ceea ce priveste aplicatiile pe store, taxa de payments e doar una.
Microsoft are de pierdut pentru ca xCloud nu poate fi pusa pe App Store din cauza politicii, desi aplicatia e deja dezvoltata dar nu ii lasa deloc sa o puna pe store, de luni de zile.
Facebook Gaming la fel, au scos partea de instant gaming pentru ca aplicatille standard nu pot contine in acelasi timp jocuri.
Si multe si multe astfel de exemple, mai mari sau mai mici pentru ca cei care se ocupa de partea de "legal" din cadrul Apple nu vor sa isi asume absolut niciun risc si arata si o rigiditate extrem de dura.
La partea de monopol, sutin in schimb ideea ca monopolul nu e intotdeauna un lucru rau. In unele cazuri, competitia e buna pentru clienti, in schimb pentru intreaga industrie ca sa mearga inainte e necesar si monopolul, iar aici ce face Apple cu App Store confirma ideea.
In esenta, ca sa vina un alt competitor pe partea de app store, ar fi David vs Goliat x 1000.
Dar daca ar fi si o bataie stransa cu sute de app stores, poate nici nu am avea un ecosistem atat de curat cum are Apple.
Ma bucur totusi ca in sfarsit se dezbate acest lucru. Poate nu acum, dar in cativa ani dezvoltatorii ar avea nevoie de un nou grad de libertate, iar niste politici scrise de avocati pot fi un impediment pentru intreaga industrie.

LE: un argument foarte bun adus de CEO-ul de la Epic e ca monopolul lui Apple e nejustificat. Monopolul te ajuta sa cresti si sa te dezvolti pe termen lung. In schimb, Apple are sute de miliarde bani cash pe care efectiv ii tine fara sa faca nimic, care nu vor produce niciun flow.
Daca Apple nu ar avea o rezerva atat de mare de cash, okay, monopolizati baieti ca aveti planuri mari. Dar asa, e clar ca nu e cazul.

[paul]

Apple in mid-August said that it would terminate Epic Games' developer account if the Fortnite app continued to break the App Store rules, and today, Apple followed through with that threat and removed Epic's access to the Epic Games account.

Fortnite has been unavailable for a few weeks, but other Epic Games titles like Battle Breakers and Infinity Blade Stickers were still in the *App Store*. Now that the Epic Games developer account has been terminated, those apps are gone.

Searching for Epic Games in the *App Store* brings up no apps and on the web, the Epic Games developer account is blank. Though the Epic Games developer account is no longer available, Fortnite continues to work.

Those who have downloaded Fortnite on an iPhone or iPad can continue to play the game, but there's a catch - none of the new Marvel-themed Season 4 content is available because Fortnite is unable to be updated. [...]

Apple Terminates Epic Games' Developer Account - MacRumors

[razvanrazy]

Finally au facut ce trebuiau sa faca din prima secunda daca-si respectau propriul regulament si nu ofereau tratament preferential.

LE: stai ca de fapt nu e chiar asa...
E vorba doar de unul din conturile lor - developer account pt epic NU mai primeste ban, cum zicea Apple.

Apple will follow a judge’s decision not to ban the Epic Games SARL account, which is used by Epic to offer Unreal Engine to other games and apps.

Also this made my day Apple features Fortnite competitor PUBG in App Store on same day it will terminate Epic’s developer account
Cred ca face spume boss-ulica de la Epic

[paul]

While Epic, publisher of the hit title Fortnite, focuses on the 30% revenue cut app stores typically take, Japanese game studios have broader concerns. They have long been unhappy with what they see as Apple’s inconsistent enforcement of its own App Store guidelines, unpredictable content decisions and lapses in communication, according to more than a dozen people involved in the matter.

Japan’s antitrust regulator said it will step up attention to the iPhone maker’s practices in the wake of the high-stakes legal clash. And in rare cases, prominent executives are beginning to speak out after staying silent out of fear of reprisal.

“I want from the bottom of my heart Epic to win,” Hironao Kunimitsu, founder and chairman of Tokyo-based mobile game maker Gumi Inc., wrote on his Facebook page.

Apple and Google hold a duopoly over the mobile app market outside China. Any publisher that wants a game to be played on iPhones or Android devices is effectively forced to distribute it via their app stores, sharing revenue from an initial purchase and future, related items. [...]

The iPhone is a huge revenue driver for game creators in Japan, including established names like Square Enix Holdings Co., which gets 40% of its group revenue from smartphone games, and Bandai Namco Holdings Inc. Sony Corp. has a multibillion-dollar mobile hit called Fate/Grand Order.

With 702,000 registered developers, Japan is home to one of the most creative developer communities. A recent study commissioned by Apple estimated the App Store ecosystem in Japan generated $37 billion in billings and sales in 2019 -- $11 billion in digital goods and services, $24 billion via physical goods and services and $2 billion from in-app advertising.

Yet the App Store is particularly problematic, according to game developers, compared with Google’s Android Play Store, where the approval process tends to be smoother and there’s better communication. There’s even a third-party service dubbed iOS Reject Rescue, designed to help developers navigate through the unpredictable approval process.

“Apple’s app review is often ambiguous, subjective and irrational,” said Makoto Shoji, founder of PrimeTheory Inc., which provides the rejection service. “Apple’s response to developers is often curt and boilerplate, but even with that, you must be polite on many occasions, like a servant asking the master what he wants next.”

Apple said it strives to give developers high-quality support by telephone or email, including through 1,400 advisers and customer service employees based in Japan. It has translated App Store review guidelines and this week released Japanese subtitles to its developer conference videos from the summer, setting out its latest thinking on optimal app design. Apple said the goal is to offer the best place for customers and developers to get and create apps.

The Japanese games industry is familiar with the 30% revenue share, since it originated with Nintendo Co. console cartridges back in the 1980s. Most developers don’t mind it, but they want to see better service, especially from Apple.

Developers complain that titles waiting for App Store review sometimes take weeks to be cleared. One local games studio said it gave up hosting seasonal in-game events, which can be a big revenue accelerator, because Apple didn’t respond to their update review request for more than a month.

“While Apple will never admit it, I think there are times when they simply forget an item’s in the review queue or they intentionally keep it untouched as a sanction to a developer giving them the wrong attitude,” said Shoji.

Apple said its app review team operates across two time zones and Japanese-speaking representatives are available to discuss particular apps over the phone with developers during local business hours.

In one case in November, cited by several game makers, Apple’s servers went down for more than a day without any notification to developers, undermining their efforts to diagnose the issue. The Cupertino, California-based company’s system status screens were also slow to indicate any trouble. Such malfunctions carry direct economic costs for creators, which Apple does not reimburse. Apple said it works hard to keep its App Store systems fully functional all the time.

Japanese firms also say the company flip flops at times on its interpretation of appropriate content and changes policies without advanced notice. Several game studios reported having characters that were approved on the interpretation they were dressed in swimsuits, then later rejected on the judgment that they were in underwear and thus sexualized. One developer who had implemented an in-game system that Apple approved, later saw the same code rejected by the App Store operator in a subsequent game.

Apple pointed out that its guidelines prohibit “overtly sexual or pornographic material” and stressed it has a responsibility to provide a safe and trusted place for users to get apps.

Tokyo-based games consultant Hisakazu Hirabayashi has seen the challenges first-hand. One development team checked their game’s revenue-making strategy with Apple several times before release, making sure Apple gave the go-ahead. Weeks after the app launched, the App Store owner changed its stance, saying the developer should take the function out of the app or the app’s distribution would be terminated, according to the consultant.

“Apple is a sheriff who sometimes makes unfair interpretations of the guidelines for its own benefit,” Hirabayashi said.

Apple App Store Draws New Scrutiny in Japan, Epicenter of Gaming - Bloomberg

[razvanrazy]

Sunt singuru care este lasat efectiv rece la tot haosu asta si sper sa castige Apple?

Adica, eu imi fac propriul telefon, propriul AppStore, investesc o gramada de bani si timp si research, marketing, oameni, vin cu generatii noi anual, cu updates si tot tacamul si reusesc sa-mi fac un nume, un ecosistem si tot tacamul, prin munca continua de calitate si printr-un custommer support care primeste doar cuvinte de lauda de peste tot, iar tu vii cu fite de printesa dupa 10-12 ani in care eu am trudit si imbunatatit tot ce puteam si dupa ce ca incerci sa ma pacalesti si sa incalci termenii si conditiile pe care le-ai acceptat de buna voie, printr-un update in care ai bagat mergand pe burta, ceva ce nu era voie, tot tu ai pretentia sa te las in pace pentru ca...esti Epic?
Si vrei sa faci mai multi bani...pe spinarea mea?

Du-te bai baiete la scara ta!

Sper sincer sa piarda si sa nu mai aud de Epic nici pe iOS si nici pe Android (oficial sau neoficial) si cu putin noroc, sper sa faca la fel si cu Sony si Microsoft si sa-i vad zburand si de acolo. Poate le prinde bine o tavalire mica prin noroi.
Sa ramana la ei acolo in Epic Game Launcher daca nu le convine altceva.

Iar toti ceilalti care se iau dupa Epic si incearca sa treaca peste politica Appstore and co, sper sa pateasca exact la fel.

[paul]

2020-09-04---preliminary-injunction-filings-928657856.pdf

[...] But in the new filing, Epic argues that more than its reputation has been harmed: “Daily active users on iOS have declined by over 60% since Fortnite’s removal from the App Store,” Epic claims. (It measured through September 2nd, in case you’re curious; by that point Fortnite had effectively split into two different games.)

Epic says iOS is the biggest platform for Fortnite, too: 116 million registered users, or nearly a third of the 350 million registered users Epic says Fortnite has attracted in total. It also claims 63 percent of Fortnite users on iOS access Fortnite only on iOS, and that it’s the only way for many people to play the game.

Epic says it’s worried it “may never see these users again” (referring to the 60 percent decline); that its Fortnite community of players has been torn apart; and that some of its non-Fortnite customers have also been collateral damage. As we reported last week, some of Epic’s other games are no longer available to re-download, and Epic says that its Shadow Complex Remastered has been removed from the Mac App Store, too, after Apple terminated Epic’s developer account.

Epic also claims that Apple is threatening to deny any attempts to apply for a new developer account “for at least a year,” quoting a communication from Apple itself, and is arguing that the harm it would endure by being “denied the opportunity to access even a single new user among the one-billion-plus iOS users for at least the next year” is harm worth creating a preliminary injunction for. [...]

Read Epic’s new, full argument why a court should force Apple to reinstate Fortnite - The Verge

[paul]

(CNN Business) Apple on Tuesday counter-sued Epic Games, accusing the maker of the popular online video game Fortnite of stealing the 30% commissions the iPhone maker takes from app developers.

In a court filing, Apple accused Epic of "self-help and subterfuge" as it embarked on a plan of alleged "commission-theft" by including a workaround in Fortnite that gave players a discount on in-game currency if they paid Epic directly.
Apple is seeking a judgment from Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers finding that Epic breached its developer contract with Apple, as well as monetary damages. [...]

Apple countersues Fortnite maker Epic Games, accusing it of 'self-help and subterfuge' - CNN

PacerMonitor Document View - 3:20-cv-05640 - Epic Games, Inc. v. Apple Inc., Docket Item 66

[paul]

[MonkY]

Skullgirls: Genial jocul. Cred că e cel mai bun fighting 2D pentru mobile (eu l-am jucat pe iPad):
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/skullg...g/id1280762571

[paul]

Epic Games v. Apple, Google:

"They are important cases on the frontier of anti-trust law," said Rogers, pointing out how major the case could be. However, Rogers also suggests the opinions of a federal judge may not necessarily be as useful as the public, especially in such important matters.

"It is important enough to understand what real people think," the Judge added. "Do these security issues concern people, or not?"

Early indications indicate that Epic may not want to use a jury, with lawyers pushing for a bench trial instead. Legal teams have until Tuesday to declare whether a trial by jury is demanded.

As for the rest of the schedule, there's a deadline of January 6 for the filing of data for the trial, while the trial itself will be sometime in July.

Judge suggests Apple vs Epic should go to jury, trial expected in July 2021 | Appleinsider

That said, some developers have given us feedback on how we can make the user experience for installing another app store on their device even better. In response to that feedback, we will be making changes in Android 12 (next year’s Android release) to make it even easier for people to use other app stores on their devices while being careful not to compromise the safety measures Android has in place. We are designing all this now and look forward to sharing more in the future!

Google's Epic response: Android 12 will make it easier to install app stores | VentureBeat

[paul]

Prima decizie permanenta pana se rezolva procesul, Apple nu are voie sa inchida conturile Epic Affiliates (firmele din grup, tehnologiile Unreal Engine, celelalte jocuri, etc.) din Developer Program:

IV. CONCLUSION

Accordingly, for the foregoing reasons, the Court GRANTS IN PART and DENIES IN PART the motion for preliminary injunction.

THEREFORE, APPLE AND ALL PERSONS IN ACTIVE CONCERT OR PARTICIPATION WITH APPLE, ARE PRELIMINARILY ENJOINED from taking adverse action against the Epic Affiliates with respect to restricting, suspending or terminating the Epic Affiliates from the Apple’s Developer Program, on the basis that Epic Games enabled IAP direct processing in Fortnite through means other than the Apple IAP system, or on the basis of the steps Epic Games took to do so. This preliminary injunction shall remain in effect during the pendency of this litigation unless the Epic Affiliates breach: (1) any of their governing agreements with Apple, or (2) the operative App Store guidelines. This preliminary injunction SUPERSEDES the prior temporary restraining order.

For the reasons set forth above, this preliminary injunction is EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY and will remain in force until the disposition of this case. Neither party has requested a security bond and the Court finds that none is necessary as contemplated under Fed. R. Civ. P. 65(c). See Connecticut Gen. Life Ins. Co. v. New Images of Beverly Hills, 321 F.3d 878, 882 (9th Cir. 2003) (“The district court is afforded wide discretion in setting the amount of the bond, . . . and the bond amount may be zero if there is no evidence the party will suffer damages from the injunction.”).

This Order terminates Docket Number 61.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Microsoft Word - 20-5640 - Epic Games - Order Granting in Part and Denying in Part Motion for Preliminary Injunction Final.docx

[paul]

The new App Store Small Business Program, as it’s called, will allow any developer who earns less than $1 million in annual sales per year from all of their apps to qualify for a reduced App Store cut of 15 percent, half of Apple’s standard 30 percent fee, on all paid app revenue and in-app purchases.

Apple will reduce App Store cut to 15 percent for most developers starting January 1st - The Verge

[paul]

Best Games of 2020

- iPhone Game of the Year: “Genshin Impact,” from miHoYo.
- iPad Game of the Year: “Legends of Runeterra,” from Riot Games.
- Mac Game of the Year: “Disco Elysium,” from ZA/UM.
- Apple TV Game of the Year: “Dandara Trials of Fear,” from Raw Fury.
- Apple Arcade Game of the Year: “Sneaky Sasquatch,” from RAC7.

Apple presents App Store Best of 2020 winners - Apple

[paul]

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic ll – The Sith Lords will be available December 18 for $14.99.

Pre-Order for iPhone and iPad: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/star-w...ii/id963230767
Pre-Register for Android devices: https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...spyr.swkotorii

Set five years after the events from the award-winning Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, Sith Lords have hunted the Jedi to the edge of extinction and are on the verge of crushing the Old Republic. With the Jedi Order in ruin, the Republic’s only hope is a lone Jedi struggling to reconnect with the Force. As this Jedi, players will be faced with the galaxy’s most dire decision – follow the light side or succumb to the dark side.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II | Mobile Trailer

[paul]

Just Cause: Mobile announcement trailer:

[paul]

Ce se mai intampla in cazul Epic Games:
- in EU:

Epic Games, maker of Fortnite, is loading up a new map in its ongoing fight against Apple as it files an antitrust complaint against the mobile phone maker in the European Union.

Fortnite fight expands as Epic claims Apple broke EU competition law | Ars Technica
- in US:
Apple a cerut practic toate informatiile despre vanzarile Steam de la Valve si au reusit cu jocurile disponibile pe ambele platforme:

In addition to some aggregate sales data for the entirety of Steam, Valve will only have to provide specific, per-title pricing and sales data for "436 specific apps that are available on both Steam and the Epic Games Store," according to the order. That's a significant decrease from the 30,000+ titles Apple for which Apple originally requested data.

In resisting the subpoena, Valve argued that its Steam sales data was irrelevant to questions about the purely mobile app marketplaces at issue in the case. Refocusing the request only on games available on both Steam and the Epic Games Store makes it more directly relevant to the questions of mobile competition in the case, Judge Thomas Hixson writes in his order.

"Recall that in these related cases, [Epic] allege that Apple’s 30% commission on sales through its App Store is anti-competitive and that allowing iOS apps to be sold through other stores would force Apple to reduce its commission to a more competitive level," Hixson writes in the order. "By focusing... on 436 specific games that are sold in both Steam and Epic's store, Apple seeks to take discovery into whether the availability of other stores does in fact affect commissions in the way [Epic] allege."

Valve has to provide some Steam sales data to Apple, judge says | Ars Technica

[paul]

Just Cause: Mobile | Cinematic Trailer:

Hitman  Sniper Assassins | Teaser Trailer:

[paul]

Square Enix's long-in-the-works Final Fantasy 11 reboot for mobile devices has, six years after its initial announcement, been officially cancelled.

Final Fantasy 11 R - a mobile version of 2002's PlayStation 2, PC, and later Xbox 360 MMORPG Final Fantasy 11 Online - was originally unveiled back in March 2015 as a collaboration between Square Enix and online game specialist Nexon.

Six years after its announcement, Square's Final Fantasy 11 mobile reboot is cancelled • Eurogamer.net
Rocket League Sideswipe — Alpha Gameplay: