zlacker

Epic should take a look in the mirror first

>>jbvers+(OP)
They'd see a 200x smaller villain that didn't cause 1/2 the world to rewrite competition laws and has only been fined $100s of millions for deceiving consumers, not billions.

>>jbvers+(OP)
What did Epic do?

>>jbvers+(OP)
There are 1,000 ways to get games.

There are over two dozen gaming consoles.

Steam, GoG, Epic, Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, retro games, in-store games, used games, rental games, you name it.

Literally a billion ways to game. And games are just TOYS. One of many hundreds of totally optional dopamine sinks.

Apple is one of two gatekeepers of the most essential device of modern humanity. They tax it, tightly control everything that happens on it, and edge out every business on it.

This needs to END. The DOJ/FTC/EU/etc. need to strip this from Apple and Google permanently. It's had vast deleterious effects on all innovation and business in the world.

You can't park in my city without a smartphone now.

You can't order food without a smartphone.

You can't bank.

You can't prove your identity on a loan.

Yet these two companies won't let you run your own software on a device you bought and own. They won't let any other businesses have any economic activity that isn't taxed. They force their search, their payment rails, and their customer relations and tracking hooks into everything.

Apple and Google are mega-monopolies and need to be rended apart. Not vertically, but horizontally: the DOJ should split Google into "Google A / Google B / Google C / Google D ..." and force them to compete with each other on all the same platform pieces. Just like they did with Ma Bell back in the day. And slap Apple around until they open up their platform and stop being the defaults for everything.

Call your legislators and demand hyperscaler monopoly breakup.

These companies own mobile internet. These companies own search and the web. They tax trademarks. They don't let you do what you want to do with tech you own. They're removing adblock and making it impossible to repair your stuff. They're shitting up the entire internet.

Epic is a puppy by comparison. They've done some lame things, but it pales in comparison.

>>echelo+i3
The reality is that if you are a dominator in the OS market you shouldn't also be allowed to simultaneously pick winners and losers. You are effectively a utility operator and should be regulated like one. They can still do there vertical scaling app business but its fundamentally anti competitive when you collude both.

>>echelo+i3
Epic is hardly a puppy. Scale isn't the only determining factor in how to view these actions by companies.

Ironically, the tech industry at large went after Lina Khan even though she was instrumental in moving forward with taking on tech industry monopolies[0] even though they themselves have complained about the App Store for years[1] because monopoly enforcement also included shutting down anticompetitive mergers like the Figma buyout.

Selective enforcement is how we got here in the first place.

This is why the tech industry writ large did a 180 on Trump and helped to get him elected. Apparently monopolies are good if it means payouts for investors. Despite the fact they'd stand to make more in a highly competitive marketplace, not less, as has been shown throughout history

[0]: https://www.businessinsider.com/real-reason-silicon-valley-h...

[1]: https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/22/y-combinator-says-apples-a...

>>jbvers+(OP)
I’ve seen this argument in a couple places online. Some variation on “both are actually bad so little guy has no one to cheer for”. This misunderstands the system.

You can temporarily ally with the soulless corporation that happens to represent your interests right now even if you’re certain that if they had the chance, they’d be a monopolist themselves. They are using their corporate coffers to take action that helps level the playing field a bit, what an opportunity! Make the alliance, take the win, get the case law on the books, celebrate it.

If you ally only with angels, you fight alone.

>>jbvers+(OP)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_you_are_lynching_Negroes

>>jbvers+(OP)
"He did it, too" is an argument that 2 year old children make and should be accorded the commensurate amount of regard.

Decreasing the number of bad actors by one is is worthwhile even if ninety-nine still remain.

>>echelo+i3
Best comment I've seen on this topic yet, unfortunate to be buried deep in this topic.

>>zaptre+d1
paying for store exclusives mostly. it was a big deal when borderlands 3 dropped in 2019 and again with alan wake 2 in 2023. its kinda hypocritical when you keep talking about competition and how its important to fight monopolies then come up with a $150M exclusivity deal instead of actually competing with steam.

>>tancop+Rv5
Setting aside whether paying for store exclusives is right or wrong (personally I don't see anything wrong with it), what does that have to do with the Apple discussion? The problem with Apple is specifically that they use their dominant market position to force anti-competitive terms on other companies. Has Epic been bullying companies into accepting their deals? You can sell a game anywhere, Epic has no leverage in this respect.