Epic’s Sum of Apple’s Fears
Some Kremlinology of Tim Sweeney’s statements…
There’s a scene in the 2002 film version of Tom Clancy’s The Sum of All Fears in which Jack Ryan (Ben Affleck) makes a passioned case that Alexander Nemerov (Ciarán Hinds), the new President of the Russian Federation, would not have ordered an artillery strike against Chechnya. He makes this case to the President of the United States (James Cromwell) and the entire Joint Chiefs of Staff, no less. The stakes are high. The stakes are war.
Ryan exits the room and immediately finds himself in front of a TV where Nemerov is giving a statement taking responsibility for the strike Ryan just said he did not do. “Nice going, Ace,” a woman who was in the room for Ryan’s plea says, patting him on the shoulder. This immediately cuts to a shot of Nemerov getting into an elevator with his own advisor and asking, “Who did it?”
The point, of course, is that Nemerov was taking credit for something he did not do, and was doing so publicly to send a message. Not to the United States, but to his own people. “Better to appear guilty than impotent,” Nemerov says as he exits the elevator.
I found myself randomly thinking of these scenes today when reading the statements made by Tim Sweeney with regard to Apple refusing to reinstate Epic’s Fortnite developer account.¹ And my read of this — admittedly, like Ryan, perhaps a bit of a stretch — is that this isn’t as straightforward as it may appear, and as many others think it to be.
I’ve long wondered if Sweeney and Epic weren’t playing a different kind of game than the one Apple is playing, and the moves today don’t dissuade me from that thinking. Yes, it’s entirely possible that Sweeney just wants this to be over with and wants Fortnite back in the App Store following the loss on most fronts with regard to their lawsuit. But actually, that doesn’t seem like the right read to me. Because if they wanted that, Sweeney obviously — obviously — would not have included a few very clear lines in his email (since shared publicly — more on that in a second) to Apple’s Phil Schiller.
I’ll share the whole email below for context, with the key part bolded:
From: Tim Sweeney
Date: Thu, Sep 16, 2021 at 5:01 PM
Subject: Fortnite and the App Store
To: Phil SchillerHi Phil,
I’m writing to provide clarity on where we stand.
Epic has appealed the court’s decision in our suit over Apple’s policies on In-App Purchase and competing stores. Though we can’t update the Fortnite version that users still have on their iOS devices, we’ve disabled Epic payments server-side, and have paid Apple $6,000,000 as ordered by the court.
Epic has asked Apple to reactivate our Fortnite development account. Epic promises that it will adhere to Apple’s guidelines whenever and wherever we release products on Apple platforms. If we get the account back, we’ll bring Fortnite back to Mac as soon as possible, and we’ll reincorporate Fortnite for iOS in our Unreal Engine development and testing process, which will benefit all of our mutual developers.
Whether Epic chooses to bring Fortnite back to iOS consumers depends on whether and where Apple updates its guidelines to provide for a level playing field between Apple In-App Purchase and other methods of payment.
Epic will resubmit Fortnite to the App Store if you adhere to the plain language of the court order and allow apps to include buttons and external links that direct customers to other purchasing mechanisms without onerous terms or impediments to a good user experience. In that case, our remaining dispute will be about competing stores, and I genuinely believe we could find common ground on the topic if Apple’s position were based solely on user security and privacy rather than commercial interests.
As a provider of developer tools, Epic continues to support Apple platforms and our mutual developers wholeheartedly.
If you have any questions or thoughts, I’m happy to talk.
Tim Sweeney
Epic Games
To me, this entire email is just about that one part. It’s an attempt to drill home the aspect of the lawsuit which Apple “lost”. I believe it’s the only part that really mattered in the entire suit because it’s the only part where there was an opportunity to hit Apple. Because I believe this entire lawsuit hasn’t really been about the legality of the App Store under current laws — those are pretty clear — it’s about showcasing the fact that Epic believes (as do many others) that we need to change those laws.
The lawsuit was a success for Epic in that it revealed just how arbitrary the creation of the App Store rules were. And as such, how ridiculous many of them are. And it did all this on one of the biggest stages possible. The move to strike down anti-steering was the perfect cherry on top of the publicity sundae for Epic. And now they want to make sure they can eat that cherry.
The wording the judge used in terms of what Apple must now allow developers to do in “linking” outside their apps is vague at best. Apple will have one interpretation, but many developers, including Epic, will have another. Epic knows this and makes that very clear here with the plea to “adhere to the plain language of the court order”.
It’s basically saying to Apple: read the intent (and perhaps the room!) of what the judge was going for, don’t try to litigate the language down to the lowest common denominator.
Sweeney is more or less daring Apple to interpret the judge’s order as they read it. If Epic really, truly wanted back into the App Store, Sweeney would not have used that language. Or even brought up that point. It’s so obviously poking the bear. And it’s doing so in a way that I believe was clearly meant to be made public at some point. Undoubtedly because Epic knew it would not compel Schiller and/or Apple. And instead would piss them off. See: the lawyer’s letter in response.
Sweeney’s note at first may read as a “hey, our bad, let’s make up…” but at best it’s “hey, here’s a deal we’re okay making…”. This isn’t an apology, it’s not even an “I’m sorry you’re upset”-type apology. This is a “it’s too bad we’re fighting, here’s how you can make it stop...” It’s really quite something! Given that it’s a deal Epic knows Apple won’t make or take, it’s more like a “hey, we dare you to say ‘fuck you’ to us in public” — it’s goading — to which Apple happily obliged!
While Epic is appealing the case, they’re also shifting the battle here back from a legal one to a PR one. And that makes sense, because that’s the one Epic can actually win.
Now, you could argue that they’re losing that as well. Or that perhaps both sides are. And sure, fine. It’s big company fighting mammoth company, boo hoo. But it is possible that Sweeney truly believes this is a battle which is more important than Epic, and as such, they’re “taking one for the team” to ensure that this both gets elevated and stays elevated. Because the only reason the PR matters — beyond the fact that Apple institutionally hates bad PR — is that it keeps the pressure on Congress to keep the pressure on Apple. They may as well have been CC’d here.
“Wait a minute, that $2.5T company won’t let the game developer back in the App Store even after they lost the lawsuit, paid the fine, and agreed to their demands?!” Apple will take issue with the latter point, but it doesn’t matter. That’s too in the weeds. The headlines are already saying exactly what Epic might want them to say, if you believe Epic is playing the game I believe Epic may be playing.
Again, it’s entirely possible — perhaps even probable — that I’m reading too much into this. The Kremlinology, as it were. But if I were in Epic’s position, trying to affect real change in the App Store, I think I would do exactly what they’ve done so far. They lost a battle for a chance to win a war. And today’s gamesmanship may be just that, in the continued build up to that war. To make statements that would seem to be aimed at one audience, but are actually meant for a different one.
Because it’s better to appear guilty than impotent.²
¹ The film, admittedly, is not great. It’s not as bad as the Chris Pine Jack Ryan movie. But it’s nowhere near the Harrison Ford variety. Nor even the John Krasinski Amazon show. And of course, it’s no Hunt for Red October. I just happened to be watching it recently, and so it popped into my head.
² One more thing: I do expect we’ll see Fortnite in the App Store again. Perhaps not anytime soon given this back-and-forth, but one could easily imagine a “hell freezing over” moment on stage with Sweeney presenting the return of Fortnite at some future WWDC or iPhone keynote. Probably not a 2022 thing, but never is a long time… Remember what this guy used to say about Apple?!
