Within two months, Apple has to start allowing iOS apps to advertise their own payment systems. The ruling overwhelmingly sided with Apple, but if it were the conclusion of an anime fight scene, Apple's victory laugh would be cut short when a razor-thin red line opened up across its face, revealing that it only dodged 99 of 100 katana slices. Today's Epic v Apple ruling helps Epic out with one of those problems. Secondly, Apple doesn't allow iOS apps to sell other apps, which has stopped Epic from releasing a mobile version of the Epic Games Store on iOS, and presumably from pursuing some more-fully-formed vision of its metaverse that goes beyond Fortnite and V-Bucks. Right now, Apple wouldn't even let Epic include a note in the Fortnite iOS app letting users know that they can buy V-Bucks elsewhere, never mind put its own payment processing system into the app (which is what Epic did to get Fortnite kicked off the App Store last year). Either Epic makes 30% less money on iPhone Fortnite V-Bucks purchases, or it raises V-Buck prices for the iPhone version only. First of all, Apple's 30% take of in-app transactions isn't ideal if you're trying to make the differences between platforms disappear. (Image credit: Epic Games)Īpple's current App Store policies are getting in the way of that vision, though. The weird Martin Luther King Jr exhibit that appeared in Fortnite recently. Epic's account services, for example, are designed to "bridge friend connections across platforms and devices." To explain why it gives all this away for free, even to developers who don't release their games on the Epic Games Store, Epic says that everyone benefits from "growing a cross-platform account base and social graph available to all." Of course, Epic stands to benefit a lot from controlling this platform that transcends platforms. All of that is great for Fortnite, which Epic wants to transition into more of a creative platform (sharing profit with creators), but I don't think the idea that Fortnite is the metaverse reflects Epic's true ambition.Įpic's goal of broader platform-irrelevancy is visible in the online services that it offers game developers for free. The goal is to build a network that allows people to play, socialize, create, buy, and sell digital stuff regardless of whether they're on their phones or PCs or smart fridges, and regardless of whether they're logged into their Steam accounts or their Epic Games Store accounts or their Bank of America accounts. My understanding is that Epic's metaverse vision-which Sony has backed with hundreds of millions of dollars-is less about Travis Scott concerts and more about making platforms irrelevant. (He was not immediately available for an interview about the ruling.) I'm thinking, however, that what appears on screen is the wrong focus when talking about "metaverses," even if Sweeney himself said that a metaverse is a "realistic 3D world" that mixes games and socializing.
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