At Epic V Apple, everyone is losing in the game of defining the game

If you ever want to see a bunch of silly struggles to define what a “game,” well, Epic v. Apple Test for you!

What’s the difference between “app” and “game”? It seems like a stone question, but instead captured a fair amount of mornings in Epic vs. Apple. Roblox, explained to Apple’s marketing manager Tristan Kosminka, was an app. See, sports have a beginning, an end and challenges. “There are experiences within Robox that we didn’t see as a game,” Kosminka said. We established that Minecraft is a game, however, it is good for Microsoft.

Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers did not understand this difference nor did I. But here’s the problem for Apple: if Cloaks is If a game, it is quite easy to compare Fortnite to Epic. Also, after watching Kosminka’s testimony Robox in the App Store, it is classified as a “game”.

With in-app purchases, Roblox is free. Since apparently no one can define what the game is, I can’t tell if it’s fair to say that Robox is a platform with the game on it, but it certainly looks like this when I log I turn on Scrolling through, there are several small sections where I can join a game, and each has different rules. (The application calls these “worlds”)

And when Kosmynka doesn’t get the category right on Roblox, well. This is its own goal.

Anyway, Kosminka shrunk to a great extent when Epic’s Lauren Moskowitz began to question the redirect. Was Snapchat’s Bunny Ear Filter Game? What about TikTok challenges? (The way this question was asked made me believe that I was possibly the only person in Tikotok’s room.) The pace of the questions made matters worse for Kosminka during the race. Did he use Fortnite? Yes. Did they attend a concert there? No, “Fortnite is a virtual world where you build a character, right?”

“I won’t mention Fortnite as a world. I’ve always seen Fortnite as a game,” Kosminka answered. Did he do Battle Royal? Yes. Party Royale? No. Creative Mode? No, He knew that Fortnite held concerts but did not know that it was serial films. In the context of “What a Game,” he made Kosminka act as if he had no idea what he was talking about. It was a tense, and destructive, questioning line.

At one point, Judge Gonzalez Rogers stated that he did not understand why Minecraft was a game and Roblox was not. (Again, according to the App Store: Roblox is Absolutely The game is revealed, however, to not have one – however, my colleague Adi Robertson notes, game developers and academics will happily ask for magic circles, meaningful choices, and the works of Johan Huizinga.

Later, Matthew Weissinger, VP of marketing at Epic Games, revealed that Fortnite is a metaverse. “That’s one of the notable things about Fortnite, we’re building this thing called Metaverse, a social space,” he grumbles softly. (Of all the men we have heard to date, all of them will benefit greatly by teaching a lesson.) “I have tried to explain it, think of all of us in lockdown and we try to be socially connected. Some of the most meaningful experiences I had were logging into Zoom and we had friends and parents and we are celebrating Grandpa’s birthday. “

We also find out that Roblox has a “Battle Royal” mode similar to Fortnite. Honestly the question is no longer for me Roblox is a game But Robel is a metaverse.

In this entire line of questioning, it seemed that Epic is attempting to establish that Apple is incompatible – and the buck is passing. Kosminka testified that the developers liked which category they belonged to, not Apple’s own, making their Robello digression strange as well. The Roblox thing made Apple a slipshot, and didn’t help further testify about the App Store review.

The process behind an App Store review is incredibly boring unless you are a developer trying to pass a review. We went through it complete In detail. Apple receives 100,000 App Store submissions per week, Kosminka testified. But only 500 people actually do “human reviews” – a lot of the rest of the work is automated. It is impossible to quantify how well the automated process is used to describe a person in a courtroom in a pithy manner. Kosminka was confident that when she was being interrogated by Apple’s attorney, but when Epic found a crack on her, her voice softened and softened.

We’ve heard of apps that Apple mistakenly gave permission for at the store: apps that carried malicious advertising fraud codes, apps that used fake headspace, “school shooting games”, a game of shooting cannons at protesters, many Inappropriate app (the funniest of which was) Ganja Farm: Weed Empire ”) and more. In the email, Kosminka said, “We are making significant errors.” In the context of the school-shooting game, Kosminka said he was “dumb at how it can be remembered.” These nuances were more damaging than the abstract walk-through of the app review process.

At one point, Judge Gonzalez Rogers wondered if anyone was doing better than Apple in the moderation of the App Store. Kosminka quipped on this answer. “One of the problems with limiting competition is that you don’t get novelty,” said Gonzalez Rogers. “One of my concerns is that if you are not letting the parties compete on these topics, things will not improve.” Then he asked if Apple hired third-party reviewers. If it does not.

There is an inherent opposite here – Epic Games Store. Steve Ellison, VP and general manager of the Epic Game Store, testified that there are no known examples of malware or pirated content on the Epic Game Store, although some fraud has occurred. It was hard not to notice the contrary.

Apple’s lawyer, who did not introduce himself, took us through a fascinating description of the Allison Games website as part of Allison’s intense chaotic examination. I understand that a lot of things need to be told for the court record, but it was silly. We determined that there were too many games in the Epic Games store. We also determined that there were 25 games in the “Top 20” Games section, which seemed to be a mess of sorts. Spotify, the first non-game app, arrived on the store in December 2020. Okay, but doesn’t Epic find it bad? Or at least, not the way she was expecting.

He hinged on the Store-in-the-A-Store at the Epic Game Store: Itichio, a store for indie games that Epic added to its store in April. You can download itch.io’s store from Epic. “Do you know that itch.io includes so-called adult games such as” Sisterly Lust? “Apple’s lawyer asked. Some games on itch.io are” so offensive that we can’t speak about them here, “he sniffed. It was a more successful line of reasoning – it essentially explained that Apple had its stores Why did not want to store within.

Of course, the major contrast between the Apple App Store and the Epic Game Store was economic. The 30/70 split that Epic finds so objectionable began with retail – you had to buy games at Wal-Mart or Gametop or anything else when they were physically packed, Allison said quietly. After retailers moved away from PC games in favor of console games, Valve created Steam, which mimics the 30/70 split from traditional retail – but this was seen as an improvement among developers, as They did not have to pay for discs and packaging. And so on.

At the behest of Allison, Minecraft until self-published. Then someone taking 30 percent was feeling heavy. In 2018, Epic launched the Epic Games store, with a cut of only 12 percent. (To assimilate developers who might be afraid of losing revenue from Steam. When they made special deals with Epic, Epic agreed to give them a minimum guarantee.)

Significantly, developers do not need to use the Epic in-app payment system – they can use their own, which means that Epic can theoretically achieve No Money on in-app purchases. Wizard of the Coast, publisher of Magic the Gathering Arena and Ubisoft use their own payment system, with many titles.

Nevertheless, I find myself returning to the question that began the day: What is sports? It is shocking to me that so many people who specialize in apps and games cannot really answer this question. But I think in some sense, you might think that the test is one – it is a beginning, a middle and an end. Lots of money at stake. One winner and one loser. Also, when the verdict is appealed – as will almost inevitably be – we will get a sequel. Sure, the epic has played well today, but you need more than one good turn to win.