You’ve surely heard about the gaming industry’s biggest story by now: Epic Games is suing Apple and Google. It’ll no doubt be a bloody war, and one with far-reaching consequences for both the game industry and software distribution in general. Epic Games is positioning itself as being the little guy going up against the great Apple and Google behemoths (as evidenced by its Nineteen Eighty-Fortnite commercial, which spoofs Apple’s famous 1984 Macintosh ad).

：Y ou've现在肯定听说过游戏行业最大的故事 Epic Games公司起诉苹果和谷歌 。 毫无疑问，这将是一场流血的战争，对整个游戏产业和软件发行都将产生深远的影响。 Epic Games将自己定位为与苹果和Google的庞然大物抗衡的小家伙(这可通过其“ 十九八十堡垒”广告来证明，该广告欺骗了苹果公司著名的1984 Macintosh广告)。

But in my view, Epic’s stunt is backfiring. Here’s why.

但是我认为，史诗般的绝技是反击。 这就是为什么。

Let’s start by taking a step back. Epic Games’ revenue has been dropping since 2018. In fact, it fell by 40% in 2019 and in 2020, it’s expected to drop even further. It’s not that Epic is doing a lousy job. It’s that there are now more competitors entering — and seeing some commercial success — in the crowded battle royale space.

让我们开始后退一步。 自2018年以来，Epic Games的收入一直在下降。事实上， 它在2019年和2020年下降了40％，预计还会进一步下降。 并不是说Epic做得很糟糕。 就是因为现在有更多的竞争者进入拥挤的皇家战争领域，并取得了一定的商业成功。

Respawn Entertainment and EA launched Apex Legends in 2019. Players fell in love with the in-game ping system. And the revival mechanics were well-received. It took Epic less than two weeks to include their own ping system, and some more time to add the revival system. It’s not that the Fortnite team were already working on these things in advance of Apex Legends’ launch — rather, Apex Legends forced Epic to respond in an effort to defend its hard-won turf. The trend has continued into 2020, when Fortnite Chapter 2: Season 2 added vaults…a feature that Apex Legends players were already quite familiar with.

Respawn Entertainment和EA于2019年推出了Apex Legends 。玩家爱上了游戏中的ping系统。 复兴机制广受欢迎。 Epic花了不到两周的时间来包含自己的ping系统，并花了更多时间来添加复兴系统。 这并不是说Fortnite团队已经在Apex Legends推出之前就在做这些事情-而是Apex Legends强迫Epic做出React，以捍卫来之不易的地盘。 这种趋势一直持续到2020年，当时Fortnite第2章：第2季增加了保管库…… Apex Legends玩家已经非常熟悉的功能。

The landscape around Fortnite has shifted dramatically in the last couple of years. This has placed much greater pressure on Epic as you’d expect. Today, Fortnite has to contend with Apex Legends, Call of Duty: Warzone, and PUBG on both PC and consoles. And that’s not to mention the numerous battle royale experiences that will launch over the next twelve months. Fortnite is struggling to fend off this death by a thousands cuts.

在过去几年中， Fortnite周围的景观发生了巨大变化。 如您所料，这给史诗带来了更大的压力。 今天， Fortnite必须在PC和游戏机上与Apex Legends ，《 使命召唤：战地 》和PUBG竞争 。 更不用说在接下来的12个月内将推出的大量皇家战斗经验。 Fortnite正在竭尽全力以减少数千人的死亡。

There’s another important dimension to consider. Fortnite — with its whimsical visual style — is very popular with a younger demographic in general. Bear in mind that a large swathe of this demographic aren’t likely to have access to credit cards or sizeable discretionary income. But games like Warzone, Apex Legends, and PUBG skew to an older audience, which arguably means that these games have more access to players’ wallets. Even the younger demographic is vulnerable for Epic, given the surprise emergence of Fall Guys, a highly unique battle royale experience that is currently sucking the oxygen out of the room on PlayStation 4, and which will no doubt go on to vacuum up more players across additional platforms (provided the developers can scale as required). The arrival of Fall Guys is a great example of the unpredictability of the games industry, as well as its fast-moving pace; no matter how big your franchise is, you often can’t predict where the next major competitor will come from.

还有一个重要的方面要考虑。 Fortnite具有异想天开的视觉风格，在年轻的人群中非常受欢迎。 请记住，这些人口中的很大一部分不太可能使用信用卡或可观的可支配收入。 但是Warzone ， Apex Legends和PUBG之类的游戏偏向年龄较大的受众，这可以说这些游戏可以更方便地使用玩家的钱包。 考虑到Fall Guys的意外出现，即使是年轻的人群也很容易受到Epic的伤害， Fall Guys是一种非常独特的大逃杀体验，目前正在为PlayStation 4吸取氧气，这无疑会吸引更多玩家其他平台(只要开发人员可以根据需要扩展)。 Fall Guys的到来是游戏业不可预测性及其快速发展的一个很好的例子。 无论您的特许经营规模有多大，您通常都无法预测下一个主要竞争对手的来源。

So, Epic is in a bind. Their revenue is decreasing as they are facing ever-sharper and more aggressive competition in a space they have dominated for some time now. It’s not just that this situation provides context for their decision to go up against Apple and Google — I’d argue it is the core reason for that risky decision.

因此，Epic处于困境。 他们的收入正在下降，因为他们在一段时间以来一直处于主导地位的领域面临着更加尖锐的竞争和更加激进的竞争。 不仅仅是这种情况为他们做出与苹果和谷歌抗衡的决定提供了背景，我认为这是做出这一冒险决定的核心原因 。

And so far, I get the sense that the players aren’t necessarily aligned with Epic’s move here. The latest Twitter poll from Brian Tong clearly demonstrates that the majority of players (comprising an admittedly small sample size) place the blame on Epic when it comes to the dispute:

到目前为止，我感觉到玩家不一定与Epic的举动保持一致。 Brian Tong的最新Twitter调查清楚地表明，在争议方面，大多数玩家(包括公认的小样本)将责任归咎于Epic：

What actually sparked this battle? It’s simple: on August 13th this year, Epic sent out an email promoting the price drop in V-Bucks (Fortnite’s in-game currency) if players used a new payment method that would bypass Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store. Epic announced a 20% price cut (even though they’d technically be saving the 30% they’d normally need to pay in fees to Apple and Google). Although the price reduction is obviously attractive for players, it clearly represents a net revenue gain for Epic (it means they are effectively taking in 10% more revenue per transaction). In that sense, it’s not quite a straightforward pro-consumer move — at least, not in the way Epic depicts it.

真正引发这场战斗的是什么？ 很简单：在今年8月13日，Epic发送了一封电子邮件，宣传如果玩家使用了绕过Apple App Store和Google Play Store的新付款方式，V-Bucks( Fortnite的游戏货币)的价格下降。 Epic宣布将价格下调20％(即使从技术上讲，他们将节省通常需要向Apple和Google支付费用的30％)。 尽管降价显然对玩家有吸引力，但这显然代表了Epic的净收入增长(这意味着他们实际上在每笔交易中增加了10％的收入)。 在这个意义上说，它不是一个非常直率的消费者的亲举动-至少，不是在路上史诗描绘它。

Needless to say, both Apple and Google saw Epic’s move as a clear violation of their ToS (Terms of Service). As a result, Fortnite was summarily booted out of both the App Store and the Play Store.

不用说，苹果和谷歌都将Epic的举动视为明显违反其服务条款(ToS)。 结果， Fortnite立即从App Store和Play Store中退出。

This is where Epic’s Nineteen Eighty-Fortnite video comes in. It was Epic’s initial response to Fortnite’s dismissal from these stores. Epic also filed lawsuits against Apple and Google, citing their “unlawful monopoly”. Epic clearly anticipated Apple and Google’s reactions, given its rapid responses around both the video and the lawsuits. This indicates that right from the beginning, Epic had been preparing for a substantial — and consequential — battle.

这是Epic的《 十九点八十堡垒》视频的到来。这是Epic对Fortnite从这些商店解雇的最初React。 Epic还以苹果和谷歌的“非法垄断”为由提起诉讼。 鉴于其在视频和诉讼方面的快速React，Epic明确预期了苹果和谷歌的React。 这表明，从一开始，Epic就一直在为进行实质性的和随之而来的战斗做准备。

In my view, Epic gambled with their entire mobile player base in an effort (potentially a short-term effort) to shore up flagging revenue. It chose this path rather than defending and expanding its market share through its product design strategy (i.e. building things that will keep existing players and attract new ones — competing with its competitors). Ironically, Epic’s move may be a self-inflicted wound in more ways than one. It’s not just that it faces an expensive, potentially-lengthy, and highly-risky legal battle with two tech giants. It’s also that Fortnite has now, overnight, lost almost all of its limbs — it’s now cut off entirely from the vast majority of its market. As a result, there’s now ample space for competitors to dive in and nab would-be Fortnite players. Epic has made this easier and more likely. It’s conceivable that many millions of players won’t be prepared to wait for Fortnite’s return; many will quickly move to a competing game or app if they find it appealing.

在我看来，Epic竭尽全力(可能是短期的)与整个移动游戏玩家群进行赌博，以增加收入。 它选择了这条道路， 而不是通过其产品设计策略来捍卫和扩大其市场份额(即打造能够保留现有参与者并吸引新参与者的产品-与竞争对手竞争)。 具有讽刺意味的是，Epic的举动可能是一种自我伤害，而不是一种方式。 它不仅面临着与两家科技巨头的昂贵，可能漫长且高风险的法律斗争。 同样， Fortnite现在已经在一夜之间失去了几乎所有的肢体-现在它已完全脱离了其绝大多数市场。 结果，现在有足够的空间让竞争对手跳水， 吸引想要的Fortnite玩家。 史诗让这变得更加容易和可能。 可以想象，数百万的玩家不会准备等待Fortnite的回归。 如果发现吸引人的话，许多人会很快转向竞争性游戏或应用程序。

But setting aside the drama playing out between these huge corporations, I’m especially struck about the ways in which players have been ignored. Remember that players purchased skins and in-game content which, as of now, can’t be used if they are playing on an iPhone. For Android users, a workaround is required. Who is going to compensate the players here?

但是，撇开这些大公司之间的戏剧戏法，我尤其对被忽略玩家的方式感到震惊。 请记住，玩家购买的皮肤和游戏内内容目前在使用iPhone时无法使用。 对于Android用户，需要一种解决方法。 谁来补偿这里的球员？

Apple has since retaliated and will suspend all of Epic’s iOS and macOS developer accounts by the end of this month. Apple have also shared the communications between Epic and Apple leading up to August 13th — the reality here doesn’t support Epic.

苹果此后进行了报复，并将在本月底前暂停所有Epic的iOS和macOS开发人员帐户。 苹果还分享了Epic和Apple之间的通讯，直到8月13日-现实情况不支持Epic。

For the record, I’m an iPhone user. And when I bought an iPhone, I knew exactly what I was signing up for. If I want to deal with multiple App Stores where there’s a risk I’ll encounter apps that aren’t compatible with my device…I’d choose a different device. I don’t want another Windows-style security system on my phone. Epic, I don’t want you to fight my battles for me. If you really want to free Fortnite, you know what to do.

作为记录，我是iPhone用户。 当我购买iPhone时，我确切地知道我要注册的内容。 如果我要处理多个存在风险的App Store，那么我会遇到与我的设备不兼容的应用……我会选择其他设备。 我不想在手机上使用其他Windows风格的安全系统。 史诗般的，我不想你为我而战 。 如果您真的想释放Fortnite ，那么您会知道该怎么做。

Walid Al Otaibi -WAO- is a top writer in Gaming. He works at an engineering company in Germany as a Project Manager. He comes from a multicultural background and is located in Germany since 2003. He is writing about Arab Culture, Multiculturalism, Finance, and Trending topics. Subscribe to his mailing list here.

Walid Al Otaibi -WAO-是游戏领域的顶尖作家。 他在德国的一家工程公司担任项目经理。 他来自多元文化背景，自2003年以来一直在德国居住。他撰写有关阿拉伯文化，多元文化，金融和趋势主题的文章。 在此处 订阅他的 邮件列表 。