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Re:Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program by zepto on Wednesday November 18, 2020 @10:42AM (#25137995)
Epic is part of TenCent which is close to having a monopoly on games these days.

But separately, the only reason to root for ‘the little guy’ is if the little guy is somehow hard done by.

We dislike the fact that Apple makes some money by charging developers 30% for payment services, software delivery, and operating a storefront that users feel safe to buy from.

We say 30% is too much to change for that, because the margin is way too high. Fair enough.

Epic on the other hand makes its money from selling in game currency to children.

That practice needs to be banned altogether.

Re:Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program by anchpop on Wednesday November 18, 2020 @11:02AM (#25138323)
TenCent has a stake in Epic but Tim Sweeney still is the majority shareholder
Re:Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program by zepto on Wednesday November 18, 2020 @11:09AM (#25138414)
Epic has a 40% stake, and controls Epic’s access to the Chinese market. There may be other rights attached to their share.

Sweeney may technically still have the majority vote, but he can’t do anything they seriously oppose, or not do anything they are strongly in favor of without facing serious consequences.

Re:Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program by ocdtrekkie on Wednesday November 18, 2020 @03:21PM (#25141937)
This is entirely false. Because while Blizzard, the NBA, and every other "American" company was busy sucking up to China in the last year, Tim Sweeney blatantly stated players in his games should feel free to support Hong Kong.

Epic didn't bow to China like other American companies did. And Epic didn't even stay silent. Epic made a clear statement in opposition to China.

That should've put to bed any of this silly "it's controlled by China" nonsense. Tencent just likes having a good stake in a company that prints money.

Re:Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program by zepto on Wednesday November 18, 2020 @04:16PM (#25142551)
If there is any part of what I said that is false. I invite you to point it out.

Support Hong Kong?

How is that in opposition to China? Hong Kong is part of China, and I’m pretty sure the Chinese government thinks of itself as supporting Hong Kong.

All Sweeney actually did was make some carefully worded statements about free speech and said that they wouldn’t filter messages on their platform.

He made no statement encouraging support of any particular political stance.

Re:Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program by colinmhayes on Wednesday November 18, 2020 @11:55AM (#25139103)
Why shouldn't you be able to sell toys to children? Fortnite clearly provides a lot of utility to a lot of people.
Re:Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program by zepto on Wednesday November 18, 2020 @12:18PM (#25139437)
In game currency is not toys.

It’s a way to monetize addictive videogames without providing any additional value.

Do you think we should sell cigarettes to children? If not, why not?

Re:Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program by colinmhayes on Wednesday November 18, 2020 @12:21PM (#25139484)
Fortnite is absolutely a toy. It's no different than buying different outfits for your doll.
Re:Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program by zepto on Wednesday November 18, 2020 @12:36PM (#25139672)
If you buy outfits for your doll, you have the outfits. You can pass them on to your own children along with the doll.

If you buy in-game currency from epic, you have nothing except the memory of a dopamine hit.