👉 The Epic Conspiracy (w/ Christian Handley)

What happened on Tech Twitter last week - August 9 - 15

Aug 17

Yo! ✌️ I’m Brett! I am a Product Manager and former Cognitive Science researcher. Social Studies is a semi-weekly newsletter for people building great products for humans. It includes recaps of what happened on Tech Twitter every week plus deep analysis using frameworks from Psychology, Economics, and the other Social Sciences.

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❤️ This week’s top story was written by my good friend Christian Handley!

✨ TLDR

🔨 Apple and Google dropped the hammer - Epic enabled their own payments processor in Fortnite. Apple and Google responded by suspending that app.

😏 Epic was planning it all along - Fortnite retaliated with a couple antitrust lawsuits and a marketing campaign timed perfectly with Google and Apple antitrust hearings.

🤔 Apple’s value has been diminishing - Apple has been taking 30% tax on revenue from developers for 12 years. But they’re delivering substantially less value these days.

🦮 Underdogs usually become abusers eventually - “Absolute power corrupts absolutely” as they say.

🔨 Apple and Google dropped the hammer on Epic

Epic Games added a feature in the iOS and Android versions of Fortnite that allowed them collect revenue on digital goods directly through their own payment processing service instead of Apple’s. As an added incentive, they gave users a permanent 20% discount on the V-Bucks (digital currency) they could purchase.

As a result, Apple removed the app from their store. Google shortly followed suit.

Alex Heath @alexeheath

struck by how clearly Epic is articulating long-simmering tensions between Apple and iOS developers: “By blocking consumer choice in software installation, Apple has created a problem so they can profit from the solution."

FORTNITE MEGA DROP PRESS FAQThe Fortnite Mega Drop is an up to 20% price reduction on all V-Bucks and real-money offers inside of Fortnite when using select payment methods. This isn’t a sale... these are our new discount prices available anytime.epicgames.com

😏 Epic was planning it all along

Epic responded swiftly with antitrust lawsuits against Google and Apple plus a full ad campaign parodying Apple’s famous 1984 Big Brother ad.

Paul McKellar @pm

Epic(fortnite) is going to fight Apple I guess. These words. cdn2.unrealengine.com/apple-complain…

Daniel Ahmad @ZhugeEX

Epic Games full statement about why they're putting Fortnite on Google Play sure is something.

How were they able to respond so quickly with fully formed legal briefings, an in-game event, and meticulously worded press releases within a couple days?

Could this all have been planned to take advantage of the current antitrust proceedings against Big Tech in order to get better terms on their app store agreement?

*Puts on tin foil hat*

Yes.

Epic also conspicuously left the consoles out of this whole discussion, despite the fact that the vast majority of their existing users are on these closed platforms. This feels like further evidence that this was a premeditated move.

Alec 🌐 @AlecStapp

PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo all demand control & 30% fee from developers. So why is Epic Games suing only Apple & Google? Because most players use consoles, not mobile, according to a 2019 study: • 71% on consoles • 17% on PC • 12% on mobile

🤔 Apple’s value has been diminishing

Apple has been taking 30% tax on revenue from developers for 12 years. Has Apple been providing developers that much value consistently all this time?

Nope.

And that’s why Epic (and Hey) has been outspoken lately.

At the launch of the App Store in 2008, there were only 500 apps. Apple’s 30% revenue cut and $99/year developer fee really did go a long way. There weren’t many other products to help developers with payments, discovery, and all the other things that Apple did.

Things have changed.

ChristianHa @AwkwardTurtle

What value are developers actually getting for 30%/15% of the App Store Cut? Used to be payment processing, licensing, organic app discovery, and more. But what worked for 500 apps in 2008 doesn’t work for 2mil+ apps in 2020.

With 2.2 million apps in the App Store, developers are on their own when it comes to growth. At the same time, the explosion in developer tools and other products over the years has also made developers less dependent on Apple’s infrastructure and services.

This is the backdrop of Apple’s developer relations. Diminished value-add. Increased rent seeking.

Brian Armstrong @brian_armstrong

This is brilliant. Apple (we love you) but you had this coming. The App store has long been too restrictive. Apple is no fan of crypto either - they are currently blocking features in Coinbase apps like Earn, and Dapps, that are available to Android users. They can't ban us all

Tom Warren @tomwarren

Epic Games is trolling Apple with a "1984" Fortnite video. It's pretty... epic https://t.co/4a8DJfJa5b

Pomp 🌪 @APompliano

Apple and Google removed Fortnite from their mobile app stores today. The future will be decentralized. Not because it is cool, but because it will be necessary.

🦮 Underdogs usually become abusers eventually

YouTuber Jim Sterling had a great take (via Daring Fireball):

Screw the lot of them. Yes, Apple and Google need taking down from their high towers. Yes, Epic Games has a point as it sues to keep Fortnite on mobile devices. But absolutely all of them are as bad as each other.

It’s the natural order of things for underdogs to become abusers. As it was said, “absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Apple’s original ad was attacking IBM for its abuses and now Epic is using the same ad to attack Apple.

$17B Epic has a long way to go before it reaches $2T Apple’s scale. That said, it’s not inconceivable that we’d see another ad in the future blaming Epic.