Apple’s presentations at Epic Games Case argue that they have reduced industry commissions, while third-party app stores would compromise privacy and security

Prior to the upcoming banking test with Epic Games, Apple presented hundreds of pages of documents covering factual conclusions, including some interesting and unknown news about previouslyEpic Games‌.

PEpic Games‌ planned its rebellion against Apple for at least two years before when it chose to blatantly violate Apple’s App Store rules, with Apple’s App Store rates at the center of the dispute. Epic is of the opinion that it should not pay Apple a 30 percent reduction for distributing apps on iOS devices, but court records show that Epic used to charge much higher fees.

In the 1990s, when Epic initially agreed to distribute games from other developers, it charged a 60% commission. According to Apple documents, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney said at the time that the 60 percent fee Epic charged was a “fairly favorable royalties,” as most dealers charged 70 percent commissions. per cent.

Before digital distribution platforms like the “App Store” existed, Sweeney commented that it was “so discouraging” to try to sell games through mortar sites.

“Look, you put a lot of effort into developing a program. If you have to publish it, that basically doubles the effort, because of all the polish and documentation that is needed. And unless you’re making serious money that’s not worth it. “.

According to Apple, the ppApp Store‌ “modified the status quo” and introduced a “frictionless marketing, distribution and transaction system” for both developers and users. Apple claimed that its model revolutionized payment for developers, who maintained a 70% reduction in the “App Store” instead of having to pay 70% to a reseller for typical retail sales.

In its presentation, Apple noted that the high fees charged by Epic are evidence that the agreements negotiated before the “App Store” were much lower than the 30 percent reduction it entails, while the court reported on reducing the 15 percent rate that small developers are now eligible for.

Although Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has been around a long time malicious Apple on Twitter, he’s a fan of Apple’s privacy practices. According to Apple’s lawsuit, Sweeney said it “considered Apple’s approach to privacy to be superior to Google’s approach to customer privacy and customer data,” and that Apple does a “great job.”

Apple claims that Epic’s lawsuit could have a direct impact on iPhone security and privacy, as customer privacy is one of the reasons Apple wants to monitor apps that are allowed on iOS devices. Apple plans to soon implement transparent application tracking rules that will limit the data developers can collect from users. If alternative app stores were made possible, there would be no rules about the information that could be obtained from ‌iphone‌ users.

Apple believes the side-loading of iOS apps would create “unacceptable vulnerabilities” that could risk exposing customers to viruses and malware. Epic at one point considered ignoring Apple’s enterprise certificate policies for applications on devices without the “App Store,” but Epic’s own engineers had already expressed concern about application transfer. on Android devices.

There were a number of leaks in the binary files for the Fortnite installer after Epic launched it on Android devices via side-loading in August 2018, leading to malware and fraud. And as one programmer pointed out on another occasion, “[o]I’m a little worried about the security aspect of all this, a lot of malicious software already doing the rounds supplanting the Fortnite app. “

The court records contain some clear indications why pEpic Games‌ wants to reduce ‌App Store‌ rates: it is not making money with the laEpic Games‌ Store. Epic lost about $ 181 million in 2019 and was projected to lose $ 273 million in 2020. Epic pledged $ 444 million in minimum guarantees to developers, but earned only $ 401 million. Epic said it will lose about $ 139 million in 2021, but Sweeney has said it is an investment to grow the business.

Apple claims that Epic is funding the pEpic Games‌ store through other parts of its business, such as Fortnite, that are more profitable.

There are many more details about how ‌Epic Games‌ planned its attack on Apple and Google, which can be found in the court file included below. We are also confident that we will hear additional information when the two companies meet in court on May 3rd.

They will be witnessed by Apple CEO Tim Cook and several Apple executives, as well as Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, and Facebook and Microsoft executives. Former Apple executive Scott Forstall will also be called as a witness by Epic.