Epic Games Store Launches on iPhone in EU, Brings Fortnite Back to iOS | Hacker News Reader

Epic Games Store Launches on iPhone in EU, Brings Fortnite Back to iOS

macrumors.com

65 pointstosh36 comments

Epic also gave AltStore a bag of money and as a result the Apple mob fee to install AltStore (€1,50/year + VAT) has been covered by AltStore themselves. Amazing how Epics pettiness now subsidises the pettiness of Apple.

https://x.com/altstoreio/status/1823826482046886273

Noticed some weird sections in their end uset agreement, maybe someone smatter than me can explain if this is normal.

“We've put this up front (and in caps) because it's important: THIS AGREEMENT CONTAINS A BINDING, INDIVIDUAL ARBITRATION AND CLASS-ACTION WAIVER PROVISION. IF YOU ACCEPT THIS AGREEMENT, YOU AND EPIC AGREE TO RESOLVE CERTAIN DISPUTES IN BINDING, INDIVIDUAL ARBITRATION AND GIVE UP THE RIGHT TO GO TO COURT INDIVIDUALLY OR AS PART OF A CLASS ACTION, AND EPIC AGREES TO PAY YOUR ARBITRATION COSTS FOR ALL DISPUTES OF UP TO $10,000 THAT ARE MADE IN GOOD FAITH (SEE SECTION 12). TO ENTER INTO THIS AGREEMENT, YOU MUST BE AN ADULT OF THE LEGAL AGE OF MAJORITY IN YOUR COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE. YOU ARE LEGALLY AND FINANCIALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL ACTIONS USING OR ACCESSING OUR SOFTWARE, INCLUDING THE ACTIONS OF ANYONE YOU ALLOW TO ACCESS YOUR ACCOUNT. YOU AFFIRM THAT YOU HAVE REACHED THE LEGAL AGE OF MAJORITY, UNDERSTAND AND ACCEPT THIS AGREEMENT (INCLUDING ITS DISPUTE RESOLUTION TERMS). IF YOU ARE UNDER THE LEGAL AGE OF MAJORITY, YOUR PARENT OR LEGAL GUARDIAN MUST CONSENT TO THIS AGREEMENT.”

Funny for a company that is essentially famous for its aggressive litigation.

> Thanks to fair legislation being passed, we will be able to bring the Epic Games Store to the UK and Japan soon, and will follow suit in any other country that passes legislation allowing third party marketplaces on iPhone devices.

I didn't think the UKs Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act went as far as the DMA.

Edit: Seems the UKs Act lets the CMA investigate and demand companies do changes to promote competition, vs the DMAs blanket requirements on large tech companies.

They need to bring back that medieval game as well, Infinity Blade, several years ago I got an iphone just to play that and Tiny Wings.

Huge if true! Anyone in Euroland can confirm this?

Just installed it as a test. The prompts were a bit non-obvious (in true Apple fashion, I needed to go to the settings to click a special menu option to actually permit the installation) and I think my face was scanned about three times by FaceID, but it works.

My Safari on iOS doesn't give a prompt for accepting the marketplace like in the instruction video. No notifications in the iOS settings either. Using Brave, fownload website complains I don't have iOS 17.6 installed even though I have 17.6.1. And they don't seem to support Firefox on iOS. So seems like the installation process still has some rough edges.

Yes, it works, but Apple didn’t put too much effort in user friendlyness:

Note: In non-Safari (e.g. Firefox) browser nothing happens when you click the button. You must use Safari directly.

Install process is as follows:

1. You visit the page and click the button.

2. You get a prompt, and need to confirm. You may also not get a prompt.

3. Go to the iOS Settings and below the first section (profile section) there is a button to give permission to a new app store.

4. Then you return to the browser and click the button again, and the app store installs and appears on your home screen.

Can confirm, the install process is ridiculously over complicated...

> Yes, it works, but Apple didn’t put too much effort in user friendlyness:

The iOS Settings app also has a search bar that you can use to find every submenu... Except for the "App Installation" subsection where you have to approve/manage alternative app stores.

Surely just a regrettable oversight by a singular engineer that unfortunately made it past QA. And that also wasn't caught when they reorganized a lot of the subsections for the iOS 18 beta. Unlucky. :)

This post fell off. It was on top of the front page minutes ago.

Welcome to dang's list of cool posts. If he doesn't like it, you don't get to see it.

There are some alternate front-ends that bypass the sorting shenanigans. I use hckrnews.com.

Might be because of the high ratio of comments to upvotes.

So this gave me as a consumer much more choice. I can now install Fortnite using the Epic store and … well just the Epic store. I am so glad that as user I can now choose which shop I spend my money and give my credit card info.

It’s also available on AltStore PAL

I assume Playstation AND Xbox AND Google Play all allow third party payments? Because they all take 30% the same as Apple. Is allowing third party payments the only difference?

Google Play does actually, in a region by region model.

The bigger difference is that Android has always allowed sideloading.

For Google Play, third party stores are the big difference. No idea about consoles.

The difference is the size of the install base. Game consoles are an insignificant niche product compared to smartphones.

There’s a pretty fundamental difference between consoles and smartphones.

Including that most consoles are sold at a loss or close to it vs. allegedly being an open platform like iOS and android.

Epic being such an important partner to all gaming companies also gives them more skin in the game there.

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