Apple Ending "Fortnite Save the World" Updates for Mac
A quick story to illustrate why Apple will likely keep doing its thing despite Epic and any other criticism:<p>My neighbor has two young teenage sons who are into PC gaming, also Android tablets. They sometimes come to me with questions knowing that I&#x27;m in the industry. Several months ago there was an incident where the parent discovered over $2500 in credit card charges mostly due to in game purchases. A good chunk was on Fortnite V-Bucks but also some SuperCell games. They were able to request a refund for more than half, and it was a stressfull event for the family with a lot of disciplinary actions following. I was asked for advice on about any technical solutions to the problem. I was able to suggest monitoring credit card charges in realtime, some parental controls that were rather painful to setup. Another touchy subject was how to talk to and educate their kids about online spending.<p>This incident highlighted how unregulated and seemingly dangerous the Windows and Android platforms are to an average non-technical family. You need to install AntiVirus software, you have to worry about malware, you have to worry about kids installing random crapware that bogs down performance (remember the IE toolbars?). I have to say Amazon and Xbox Live parental controls are some of the most kafkaesque nightmares I&#x27;ve had to battle with.<p>I also see predatory techniques aimed at kids that have long been used by companies that are primary funded by in-app purchases. There is widely discussed concept of fun-pain in this genre of game development, where you induce some level of &quot;pain&quot; that would induce someone to pay money to alleviate it. Simple example is to eliminate wait time for artificial delays in game progression. Yes, in some ways Apple and this entire genre of mobile games, profited from it and is now trying to provide alternatives with the Apple Arcade model.<p>In comparison Apple and iOS provides a walled utopia for these families and justifies its tight controls as a method of providing that safe and worry free computing experience.<p>How many people bought an iPad for their older relatives because they were just tired of family tech support? Seems like it was enough for that to become a tired stereotype with a grain of truth.<p>I have sympathies for the idea of an open computing platform as a developer. I see the web and open source an excellent outlet for those that are willing to take on that level of responsibility with their devices.<p>However most takes on Apple in response to the Epic spat have been crude caricatures of a capricious monopolist robber baron type. I&#x27;m not in complete opposition to that idea, but that its not a particularly sophisticated or informative analysis, when their success clearly shows a market need for just this type of curated platform.<p>Also Epic knowingly violated terms of a contract that they agreed to when it suited them and are painting it as a moral imperative as opposed to an argument over money and how to extract it from customers.