Epic Calls For a Single Universal App Store (macrumors.com) 119
Long-time tlhIngan writes: Tim Sweeney is at it again. The CEO of Epic Games blasts Apple and Google and calls for a universal app store that works across all platforms. Naturally, he's proposing that Epic Games manage the store across iOS, Android, Xbox, PC, Nintendo and Sony. Bloomberg (paywalled) has more details. "What the world really needs now is a single store that works with all platforms," said Sweeney in an interview at the Global Conference for Mobile Application Ecosystem Fairness in Seoul, South Korea. "Right now software ownership is fragmented between the iOS App Store, the Android Google Play marketplace, different stores on Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch, and then Microsoft Store and the Mac App Store." Sweeney added that Epic Games is working with developers and service providers to create a system to allow users "to buy software in one place, knowing that they'd have it on all devices and all platforms."
"There's a store market, there's a payments market, and there are many other related markets. And it's critical that antitrust enforcement not allow a monopolist in one market to use their control of that market to impose control over unrelated markets." He went on to accuse Apple of complying "with oppressive foreign laws" while "ignoring laws passed by Korea's democracy." "Apple must be stopped," he says.
"There's a store market, there's a payments market, and there are many other related markets. And it's critical that antitrust enforcement not allow a monopolist in one market to use their control of that market to impose control over unrelated markets." He went on to accuse Apple of complying "with oppressive foreign laws" while "ignoring laws passed by Korea's democracy." "Apple must be stopped," he says.
Meta monopoly (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Meta monopoly (Score:4, Insightful)
Indeed. Personally I call for universal side-loading, so I don't have to be stuck having to get my software vetted by big data from big data servers.
Anyway, universal anything has never worked to the consumer's advantage. Those who wish for that should read up on AT&T, or the goods market in the former Soviet Union, and see how well people liked it back then.
device bill of rights (Score:2)
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Possible solution. Have a blockchain based database of license ownership but have as many stores as you want.
If you buy game G on platform P is registers the license with the blockchain. Then you own game G on platforms P, Q, R, S, T... because you have the rights to it.
However, you can choose the platform of your choice AND have the ability to change platforms.
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Obviously an edge case, but they can't be the only vendor out there that does this....
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Yes, he is asking for monopoly power, but it's to counter the current monopolies. Its an interesting idea, but not the best one. It would be better served by an indepentant non-profit in hopes that they would be more interested in helping fix the problem and not blindly profiting.
One of the greatest issues with the current landscape is for the most part is all the vendor lock in. Buy an iPhone and it's very hard to leave as all your apps are locked to iPhone. Same goes with Android (though you have
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He's right, if for the wrong reasons.
This ironically is something that "blockchain" would solve, but not necessarily in the way we want it to. Blockchain and NFT's are basically reverse-DRM
So let's say I buy ... Kingdom Hearts on The Epic Game Store. Now I also have a Playstation 4, Steam, Stadia and an iPhone. I want to play it on all of these platforms, without having to buy it 4 times, and likewise "HD remakes" I don't want to buy an additional 4 times. I already bought the original PS1 game, why am I bu
Re: Meta monopoly (Score:2)
Game Stop was one shop where I could buy games for any and all of my gaming systems. Maybe they should do it.
Or, I think what's really needed is an open "app store api". Then any software provider could sell through stores of their choosing, and all devices can work with every store.
Standards (Score:5, Funny)
Maybe a better question would be: would they run it at a 0% commission level forever?
Hmm ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Epic Calls For a Single Universal App Store
A single universal App Store across all platforms ... wait ... isn't that ... what's that word again? ... Oh right, a 'monopoly'!
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Re:Hmm ... (Score:5, Funny)
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No problem if it is epic monopoly. /s
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While I'm sure they'd be cool with magically being 'the single universal app store', to be fair they did ask for 'a' single universal app store, which when there are currently zero does not automatically mean they would demand there can be no more than one such thing.
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While I'm sure they'd be cool with magically being 'the single universal app store', to be fair they did ask for 'a' single universal app store, which when there are currently zero does not automatically mean they would demand there can be no more than one such thing.
Sure, let's hand a royal app monopoly privilege to, ... say, Amazon? That will solve everything, and make that 3rd rate Lex Luthor impersonator who runs Amazon even richer.
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My whole point was that no one needs to have a monopoly if a company like Epic could deliver a store front compatible with all of them. Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Valve would probably be all ramping up cross-platform app stores if it were viable. The potential for at least one universal app store to be possible does not automatically mean there can be only one.
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Epic Calls For a Single Universal App Store
A single universal App Store across all platforms ... wait ... isn't that ... what's that word again? ... Oh right, a 'monopoly'!
On top of that, who is going to run it, who will shoulder the cost and then be entitled to the profits?
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Don't forget that Epic will control it all.
Sweeny is a grifter pure and simple.
... and I hear he is forging 20 rings of power to enslave all the smartphone brands.
Or you could ... (Score:5, Interesting)
To avoid monopolies perhaps you should work towards allowing *more* app stores on each platform?
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I suppose they tried that argument and didn't find enough traction to get anywhere. Seemingly competition per platform isn't going to do it.
So now a more concrete possibility that is currently blocked by the status quo, for some vendor to be able to offer app stores across all the platforms. While the language could have explicitly been plural, I think the message as stated doesn't preclude the prospect of multiple universal app stores, but he is trying to get people excited about the concept of at *least*
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There is nothing stopping them creating their own app store for Android. F-Droid is an open source one, Amazon have their own app store, Samsung has one, in fact many phone manufacturers have them.
If it's such a great idea then do it, and once it's proven on Android you can start your legal assault to get it onto iOS.
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> There is nothing stopping them creating their own app store for Android. F-Droid is an open source one,
Yeah, and F-Droid can't push security updates unless you're rooted because Google stops them.
Debian apt is closest to what we actually need. Sure, I'd add Epic's signed repo if I wanted their products.
Re:Or you could ... (Score:4, Interesting)
My phone isn't rooted (stock Android 11 from Google) and it gets security updates via F-Droid.
There seems to be a bug in F-Droid where tapping on the notification fails to update, but if you just go in the app it works fine.
Re:Or you could ... (Score:4, Interesting)
Some industries naturally gravitate to monopolies.
Sometimes regulation is actually better than forced competition.
This goes all the way back to railroads. Would it be better for society if we encouraged railroad companies to compete. Each one owning their own section of track. Each one playing with their customer base and restricting who can access their rail network and at what price.
Railroads, like many industries tend towards monopolies. A far better solution than simply trying to increase competition is to recognize and use our historical understanding of monopoly law to manage it as best we can.
Things like mandating open access. So if a railroad company also owns an apple farm, they can't restrict other apple farming companies from shipping their apples by rail.
Things like fair pricing. So a railroad company can't give unfair pricing to one shipper over another or charge unreasonable rates.
Things like adhering to standards (track gauge...)
It is going to be imperfect, but that is life. You of course want the monopoly pushed as far down the line as possible. For example, in the case of say internet, you'd want the monopoly to simply control the infrastructure itself. Ideally, you then allow competition at the service/retail level.
You could also try and enforce competition by some kind of open standard. But that gets complex real quick. Like if you had some kind of open digital asset system where you purchase a game and it's tied to you. You can then 'access' that same asset from any store and all devices must be able to access any store.
Quite the opposite (Score:5, Insightful)
We never needed App Stores on PC or Mac. Why did we suddenly need them on our phone?
In fact, most people are actively refusing to use those PC/Mac App Stores now that they exist. It's just a grab for money with supposed curation as an excuse. Let me choose an optional App Store for grandma and Donny Dumbass. Most everyone else will be fine - probably better off - without them.
Epic should've gone for the freedom option. It would support it, they would get their 100% profit. Win/win. But no, they have to go for the power grab and try to be the new Apple. Lame!
Re:Quite the opposite (Score:5, Interesting)
Hence there's some truth to what is proposed there, even though Sweeney might have gone off the deep end some time ago.
A problem is indeed how fragmented applications have become on different platforms. For example you buy an application for your iPhone, but if you want to switch to Android, you'd have to buy it again on their platform. Then you might also have to buy it on PC, or Mac.
There might be some exceptions here and there where if you buy a license key from a corporation they'll offer you codes that you can redeem on different platforms and or different installers for different operating systems. That's cool. But that's not the norm, though it should be to prevent lockin into a single platform.
Hence I do think there's something to the proposal, where you could use your Apple App store on any kind of device to access the software you paid for on there, like having that stuff on your Android phone, your Linux desktop, possibly on your Xbox and whatever. Now of course platform agnostic software is not a trivial task, because not all software is platform agnostic, which means that developers will have to put in some work here as well.
Valve for example has been on that track for a while with their support of Proton. It'd be good for the consumer if we got more corporations on board of that train.
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Universal cross platform binaries will always suck because they have to support the least common denominator between the supported platforms. Making a single binary that looks, feels, and performs well natively on all platforms is basically impossible. Java tried that decades ago, and I can count the number of successful java desktop apps on one hand of an absent minded shop teacher.
The only way this sort of thing would work is if somehow there is a guarantee that if I pay for the platform A version of soft
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Universal DRM isn't solved by app stores in any way.
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And while some companies do pursue such goals (GOG for example has a FCKDRM initiative) others like Denuvo only seem to make it worse with their broken rights management. Some standards for DRM may lead to some actual improvement instead of chasing the probably unobtainable (FCKDRM) on a larger scale.
Re:Quite the opposite (Score:5, Insightful)
We never needed App Stores on PC or Mac. Why did we suddenly need them on our phone?
Uh, we now have app stores on our PCs and Macs now, so why are you asking this question?
And WHY do we suddenly "need" app stores everywhere? When consumers are now interfacing with an OS that has been dumbed down to look like something Fisher Price would make, and most interfaces are simplified to the point where a toddler can operate it (quite literally), it's quite obvious that the average consumer isn't becoming smarter about computers, but far more dependent and ignorant about them.
Let's stop wondering about app stores. Setup.exe has practically died due to mass ignorance.
In fact, most people are actively refusing to use those PC/Mac App Stores now that they exist
Really? Please, tell the rest of us exactly how "most people" are installing software on their iPads and iPhones then.
Most people, are as ignorant as you are about the problem of Grandma being duped by a fake "app store" notification. You at least partially recognized that fact by calling out Donny. Now stop trying to pretend the world isn't filled with Dumbasses now. It is.
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Please, tell the rest of us exactly how "most people" are installing software on their iPads and iPhones then.
Huh? They are quite likely not running PC or Mac software on those devices.
Re:Quite the opposite (Score:5, Interesting)
We don't "need" app stores, but they are a very nice thing to have. Having a dozen of different installers, updaters and no consistent way of downloading apps is inconvenient. Not to mention the security implication, curation is a real deal, not an excuse. See how every other installer on Windows come bundled with some crapware, how download sites trick you into clicking on their ads instead of getting you the real installer, it doesn't happen on app stores. Steam success come from bringing a good app store to Windows, and in fact, it motivated me to actually buy games, because it is more convenient than cracks.
And Linux had app stores for years, we call them "package managers". They are free and open, fitting for Linux, but it is still the same idea of centralizing app management.
Re: Quite the opposite (Score:4, Interesting)
And Linux had app stores for years, we call them "package managers". They are free and open, fitting for Linux, but it is still the same idea of centralizing app management.
No... online package repositories are not app stores. Those are extensions of the OS packaging system that every Unix has. They are designed for a level of granularity and OS integration that doesn't even begin to make sense for third party software. Anyone can weld OSS together, so what you get are really gigantic OS images, not third party software. The version of Firefox or git that you have in your repos is the version your OS comes with, not the version an ISV wants to distribute. And that version of git and Firefox depend on a hundred other things specific to that OS distro.
You can do stupid tricks like adding custom repos, like a Firefox repo for example, that lets a developer publish directly to you, or you pull from their server anyway. They have tip toe around the packaging system to avoid it accidentally satisfying dependencies with their packages or other peoples packages satisfying dependencies meant to come from their repo. Apt and yum we're not designed for that.
Then after all that mess of using the OS packaging system, if you dare, and most ISVs don't, you have basic problem of shipping Linux software, which sucks any which way you go about it. There's no one Linux package system, they aren't portable across families of Linux, they aren't even portable across versions in the same family unless you statically compile everything.
So much commercial Linux software _today_ uses custom installers with embedded tgz files, and I do not blame them.
It's easier to grab the latest git for Windows and chuck it in an actual App Store than on Linux! Go to git-scm, download latest binary package, done. Why can't you go to git-svn and download a universal package for Linux and just run it? Hell, zip it. Go make a zip file of a binary git build I can run on any Linux.
Re: Quite the opposite (Score:3)
Re: Quite the opposite (Score:5, Insightful)
Isnt STEAM and GOG app stores of sorts?
Not of sorts, they are app stores under any definition.
But Steam is run by Valve, and GOG is run by CD projekt red.
Similarly Amazons app store is run by Amazon, and the Windows app store is run by Microsoft.
None of those are Epic. The majority of the industry has decided they don't want to deal with all of the problems and hassle Epics store has caused and is causing.
Sweeney doesn't like that people choose not to use his store, so has been trying to get the courts to force us to use it against our will.
This was evident with his initial lawsuit against game developers choosing to publish on Steam and not with Epic.
He saw right fast how unpopular it was to sue game devs, so he started suing the store front operators directly, and learned exactly what lies to say so it wasn't as obvious he was the one in the wrong.
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App stores are a good idea: Distributions curating software in their repositories;
taken to the extreme: Nothing from outside the one repo may be installed, and the distro has the final word on whether the software is distributable to users.
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We never needed App Stores on PC or Mac. Why did we suddenly need them on our phone?
Actually, we did need them back in the day, we just didn't realize it (as we dealt with the cost of failed installations.)
Apple (and other phone/mobile equipment providers) can't afford to deal with customers calling when things don't work if app development is a wild-west kind of thing. You put an app store and enforce some sorts of standards of installation and runtime behavior and you get rid of the costs associated to the wild west.
Obviously, this also creates monopolistic conditions where the app s
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We had app stores, they were just physical ones. You went down to the store, browsed the shelves of games or programs or whatever you wanted, and brought it home to install.
Phones do not have easy ports for floppy disks, CDs, DVDs etc. They absolutely need a wireless way of obtaining the product, so the storefront might as well be wireless too. Thus, app stores.
And as the internet became more and more popular as a way of obtaining and maintaining your games and programs, oh look, stuff like Steam showed up
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In fact, most people are actively refusing to use those PC/Mac App Stores now that they exist.
Steam would like a word with you. As would every Linux distribution.
Re: Quite the opposite (Score:2)
Use your brain! (Score:1)
All they want is to have their Epic store available on all devices, which of course they're not likely to get on Apple's mobile devices, Xbox, Sony, and Nintendo.
They did nowhere say that they want to be the only available store, as some of the commenters around here and those who modded them up would like to believe.
Come on, I know that Epic isn't liked very much, but that doesn't mean you need to make up whatever shit.
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What the world really needs now is a single store that works with all platforms
Now please explain how his words regarding "a single store" works with your argument that he really means lots of stores.
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Does that mean that there's no more fish? No more non swimming birds? No more bats?
Unless someone can provide a statement where he says something like "only one single store" or anything else that clearly states there should be not others (and perhaps by extension that Epic must be the one [at which point I'd call Sweeney insane]), I'm going to assume that peo
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For example if we wants a platform agnostic store, he could start where there's no resistance on platforms that are already very open, like Linux.
Start investing money into that. Implement better Linux support into Unreal Engine 5 at least. Start with the things that are within reach, then people will also have an easier time to support Epic when it comes to cases against Apple.
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Though he's gone nutty over the course of the last couple of years. So of course I can't be sure.
My main takeaway from that interview is that he's quite pissed about that fact that the current court rulings didn't let his Fortnite back on mobile Apple devices. He clearly wants to get back on that market (suggesting that it was quite lucrative for Epic) but he doesn't want to play
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That's something that wasn't said but was filled in with the wishful thinking of people here that are incapable of seeing the bigger picture because of their blind hatred.
and now their endgame becomes clear... (Score:5, Insightful)
We always knew it wasn't about consumers having choice or sideloading or anything remotely pro-consumer, it's about making Epic the gateway to all apps everywhere.
Steam (Score:2, Insightful)
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Beat me to it.
One leader (Score:5, Funny)
If only the world could have one visionary leader, a great decision maker, things would go so much better. Confusion would be reduced, inequality can be managed. The economy will flow smoothly. Law and order could be maintained. The world would be a great place. Of course, I should be that leader.
NO! (Score:5, Insightful)
No, the opposite (Score:5, Interesting)
Instead the store should be split away from the games & services. It should be a common platform that publishers and stores fund through a cut of sales and through license purchases. I should be able to open a store in my browser, or whatever and be able to purchase a game that downloads to my computer runs through a single set of services for signon, updates, patching, achievements, group chat etc.
The stupid part is that Windows once had this in the form of Games for Windows. GfW was built into lots of Windows games and allowed a user to sign on and have stuff like achivements & patches regardless of where the game was bought. But Microsoft joined the greed party and decided to shitcan it in favour of their own store to add to the rest.
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Why should blizzard/Battle.net be spit up?
That does not make any sense at all.
It should be a common platform that publishers and stores fund through a cut of sales and through license purchases.
That already does exist: Windows App Store and Mac App Store.
And if YOU want to set up your own Windows or Mac or Linux App Store: you are free to do so, go ahead!
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Yeah, because you did not make a point.
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The likes of Steam, Epic, Origin, UPlay, XBL, GOG, Battle.net etc. are ALL duplicating the same functionality - sign on, updates, patching, achievements, group chat etc. except in each case they are bound to their own store. That is of course because every company is greedy and wants the cake all to itself.
Of course, EPIC is not pushing this idea out of concern for the end user; they feel it will make them more money. How about EPIC getting behind one standard online game server platform and split off the net play from teh publisher. An open source platform that all networked games use so you only need to sign on once to play any game?
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What I would also disagree with is that Epic controls that store. If there is one unified store for everything that makes others obsolete, then it must be an open platform if the goal is to prevent a monopoly from abusing its power.
Though it'll be difficult to get the 'stores' on board with this. Getting the publishers might be easier.
I could take Frontier Developments as an example. They made Elite: Dangerous which you can either
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It should be a common platform that publishers and stores fund through a cut of sales and through license purchases.
We couldn't even get the stereo and movie player companies to agree on a universal remote.
Besides Fortnite, what Android games? (Score:2)
This is a funny story, because when you go to Epic Games, the only two platforms by which you can sort when you browse are Windows and Mac OS.
Lemme get this straight (Score:3)
To break up the "monopoly" of Apple and Google, we need to create a monopoly that you can't even escape if you wanted?
Did I get that right?
Where's Bad Analogy Guy when you need him? (Score:3)
I remember Bad Analogy Guy here on Slashdot; he should explain to Tim what he just said.
Re: Where's Bad Analogy Guy when you need him? (Score:5, Informative)
If it's not a car analogy I'm not interested
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We should all buy our cars from the same place and there should be only one place to buy cars and car manufacturers should all put all their cars on that place and put them side-by-side and the car store has to be involved in every car transaction and gets to set the prices that the manufacturer receives.
In other words, never gonna happen.
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"What the world really needs now" (Score:2)
What the world needs now is a trademark system that doesn't allow people to claim wide-ranging monopolies on simple words like, say, "Epic".
Fuck 'em.
Universal access and direct installation (Score:1)
It's like we should build a universal and standardized medium, that everyone has access to, and from there one could install whatever they want directly to their devices....oh, wait.
It's extremely interesting, to me, that this whole "walled garden" - be it Apple, Android or PC - concept has been able to exist for so long. Why do consumers accept it? I don't get it. Well well...
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What walled garden is there on the PC? If you mean Windows when you say PC there are multiple outlets that sell Windows software. If you mean Linux when you say PC there are also multiple outlets for software.
Currently there is only a "walled garden" on Apple's mobile devices (phones and tablets). There are still multiple sources for getting software on your Mac computers (desktops or laptops).
App & games deveopers (Score:3)
It Exists Already... (Score:3)
We already have one market online. (Score:2)
You can order stuff there.
Vendor lock-in (Score:2)
Sure, you can side load and such, but for the most part you know the average person is going to get a device and use whatever app store comes with a pre-installed link on it and doesn't require changing or bypassing OS settings to download or install.
Otherwise, yes, it would be nice to see a company rise up as an independent app store, it's reputation built on properly vetting and rating applications and a good interface for finding what you want.
It's not going to happen, especially for Apple.
"ALL" (Score:4, Insightful)
>"calls for a universal app store that works across all platforms. Naturally, he's proposing that Epic Games manage the store across iOS, Android, Xbox, PC, Nintendo and Sony."
"ALL" platforms. Then leaves out Linux.
>"And it's critical that antitrust enforcement not allow a monopolist in one market to use their control of that market to impose control over unrelated markets."
Besides, what could possibly go wrong when there is only a SINGLE source of applications, centrally controlled? I am sure that will spur innovation, openness, and competition.
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Not only did they leave out Linux, they also left out MacOS.
There's probably other operating systems out there too. Maybe operating systems that run on some Smart TVs, like Roku, WebOS (LG), Tizen (Samsung) (does that still exist). Sure you won't be playing top end titles on your TV, although you may in the future, for basic games or media consumption apps there is a need to make sure you software is available on as wide array of platforms as possible.
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Not only did they leave out Linux, they also left out MacOS.
Not only did they leave out Linux and MacOS, they then went and bought popular franchises which did work on Linux and MacOS (e.g. Rocket League) then proceeded to pull them from Steam (because competition is bad, I mean good, I mean bad, I mean whatever I say today - Tim), and left Linux users unable to play a game they paid for and were happily playing for years.
Why is this familiar? (Score:3)
https://xkcd.com/927/ [xkcd.com]
What we need (Score:2)
What we actually need is a unified system to prove that you own a game, and then you are free to download the game through any app store, and any app store can sell any game, and pass on the required amounts to the producers.
That way if any one store ever does go down, people could just seamlessly switch to another store.
Also, people should be able to play all the games they bought cross platform, and this includes game streaming.
Thank you for listening to my Ted Talk.
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> Also, people should be able to play all the games they bought cross platform, and this includes game streaming.
Extend this to video streaming services:
a) I can buy a movie
b) I can watch it my way...
Universal AppStore only works (Score:2)
for Universal binaries i.e. write once run everywhere.
SteveJobs invented the idea of universal binaries for NeXT Developers. But Apple pivoted away from it. In Apple’s defense, at the time, they had their hands full just saving the Macintosh.
If Developers insisted and buyers demanded it then enough pressure could be brought through anti-trust legal proceedings to characterize mono-binary executables as a monopoly device in itself. Monopoly could be viewed as the wage slavery Developer relationship tha
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Universal AppStore only works for Universal binaries i.e. write once run everywhere.
No. A universal app store could allow the developer to upload different binaries for different platforms, and distribute them to the user depending on the device they login with. The "app" would have a single ID in the app store but different binaries. If one didn't exist for, say, Android, it tells you sorry, this app won't run on this device.
Sweeney Todd (Score:2)
It's probably just me, but every time I see his name, I misread it as Sweeney Todd [wikipedia.org]. It would make the legal proceedings more interesting when he pulls out a straight razor and starts slicing everyone up.
It shall be known as (Score:2)
Back in college. (Score:2)
Back in college I think I was in my Jr. or Sr. year. A freshmen CS major was saying why can't all the OS's and Hardware platforms run each others executables, with out any of this bytecode translation stuff that Java Uses. Being a freshman he didn't know too much about system internals, he just knew how to program. So things like different instructions sets, and architectures of the Intel vs Sparc platforms are actually very different, and deal with calls and return data differently. Then how most executab
Already exists (Score:1)
Though I don't have any Apple laptop or desktops, I'm fairly certain that the same applies to their ecosystem as well. If you buy an app on your phone, you then also gain access to that same app on your desktop/laptop and/or iPad as well for no additional cost if it's available on th
The best thing about Linux is the packaging (Score:2)
The best thing about Linux is the package repositories. I'm 99% a Windows user, but like all Windows users I am sick of the concept of an EXE that runs with admin privileges and strews random files across the system and registry keys. I look at a file and go "What is THAT for? Why is it here? Where does this app put its data?" In theory MSI could have solved that but it didn't. Package repositories allow:
Scroll to the end (Score:2)
Universal App Store (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
I'm sure he meant a source code repo.
Amazon now calling for only one retail source. (Score:2)
"What the world really needs now is a single store that works with all platforms," said Sweeney
Using this same logic Amazon has decided that there should be a single "store" for purchasing physical objects and has proposed that they be that store.
Right. (Score:2)
Right, it's critical that everything be concentrated in one place, run by one person or one committee of idiots. That way, we have the most choice. Morons.
How about no? (Score:1)
Epic Games is working with developers and service providers to create a system to allow users "to buy software in one place, knowing that they'd have it on all devices and all platforms."
So, in other words, the idea is to establish a software mono-culture with an ivory tower distribution scheme, a single point of failure and attack.
What could possibly go wrong?
Why stop with app stores? (Score:2)
How about one store for everything? People are too stupid to make wise purchases because there are so many stores to choose from, to buy everything from groceries to housewares. Let's simplify people's lives and just have one store.
Really? I don't think so!
Great idea Epic (Score:2)
You should just dump your shitty store and leave us all to go to a functioning platform like Steam which actually has features, doesn't restrict competition like your 3rd party exclusive and works on Linux as well.
Epic is trying a crowded market... (Score:2)
Roblox is a pretty great choice -- it's already available on Windows, Mac, iOS / iPad OS, Android, XBox and Oculus. It's not available on Nintendo or PlayStation, but then again, anyone would have a tough time trying to convince the Japanese gaming giants that they would add any value.
Steam is a pretty great choice on Windows / Mac / Linux -- though you really don't need Steam to buy games, it's a mostly a great way to find them. I'm really surprised that Valve beat out Google and Microsoft for this - makin
Epic don't even support Linux (Score:3)
Universal app store for real computers (Score:2)
Outside of Android and iOS, there already is a single app store.
Github.
This is Slashdot, after all.
Where's Epic Launcher for Linux? (Score:2)
We're waiting... :P