The Unbearable Lightness of Epic’s Case
Epic has a game in the App Store, and thinks Apple takes too much profit. They also think Apple should let third party developers bypass the App Store entirely, and accept payments through any payment processor.
But their case is pretty light. You can explain it in a quick Q&A.
Q: Why is Epic suing?
A: Because Apple charges too much.
Q: Do they charge more than the industry rate?
A: No.
Q: What does Apple charge?
A: Nothing for free apps, 30% the first year, and 15% afterwards.
Q: What does the competition charge?
A: XBox and Playstation charge 30%. Same with physical box stores.
Q: Do XBox and Playstation allow side-loading of apps?
A: No.
Q: Do XBox and Playstation allow custom payment processors?
A: They do not.
Q: Is Epic suing XBox and Playstation for charging 30%, not allowing side-loading of apps, and requiring payment to go through them? Exactly like Apple has done?
A: No.
Q: Why not?
A: They say it’s different.
Q: Different how?
A: Because they think Apple doesn’t work hard enough for that 30%.
Here’s the CEO making his case.
So if that’s their big argument, that Apple does the same thing as everyone else but somehow it’s different, they’re going to lose. A judge told them as much last September:
It’s hard to believe this time will be any different. “I am annoyed that Apple is making money with the same terms as the rest of the industry” is not a very strong case. And it’s all they’ve got.
