Re: Speaking of game company hijinks....

On Fri, 4 Oct 2024 07:52:11 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

https://apnews.com/article/epic-games-google-samsung-d5acc9f1412251335a9e9cf08ce3e98c
>
Epic Games sues Google and Samsung over phone settings, accusing them of
violating antitrust laws

Poster's thought: Why bother making a decent store front for your games
when you can just sue other companies for your poor sales?

I'm of such mixed opinions on this.

On the one hand, I _get_ Epic's argument. Coming from the very open PC
platform, it's hard not to be in favor of having multiple options to
buy and install games. I've a hesitancy to be happy over any one
company having a monopolistic control over what programs I can and
cannot install on my device.

But on the other hand... mobile _isn't_ the PC platform. Apple and
Google (and Samsung) invested heavily into creating those platforms.
And given how much access we give these devices to our lives --they're
literally tracking our every move; many of them have access to our
health and financial data too!-- trying to restrict what sort of apps
can be installed doesn't seem too outlandish an idea. I think everyone
here knows a friend or relative who's PC is just _infested_ with
spyware because they happily click on any EXE presented to them. It's
hard to argue that Samsung and Apple's attempts are entirely
self-serving.

And on the gripping hand, it's _Epic_ making this lawsuit. Despite
their claims about how they're doing this all for the good of the
average consumer, everything else Epic does screams that they're
entirely self-serving. They aren't upset at the idea that a single
entity is controlling the market; they're upset that THEY aren't that
entity. If, as DT pointed out, Epic first created a GOOD product -an
example of what customers actually want- and then (when it flopped
because of competitors market manipulation) presented a law suit, I
might be more forgiving... but right now it screams of "I don't wanna
do the work, so just make Apple/Google/Samsung give me what I think I
deserve" legal shenanigins.

TL;DR: I might be more supportive if it wasn't Epic behind it