For more than a decade, Apple could do almost no wrong. The iPhone made it the world’s most valuable company. The App Store helped launch businesses such as Uber and Airbnb. And the company’s new products made it a player in health, Hollywood and finance. Now, the difficulties are piling up. The Justice Department filed […]
Read MoreTag: Epic Games
Apple SUED over alleged iPhone monopoly in the U.S., accused of ‘suppressing’ alternative messaging apps, smartwatches, cloud games
Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the gaming industry’s top leaders? Learn more about GamesBeat Summit sponsorship opportunities here. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) alongside 16 State/District Attorneys General has sued Apple today for violating federal antitrust laws (the famed Sherman Act of 1890). The tech giant, one of the […]
Read MoreEpic Games unveils Unreal Engine 5.4 preview at State of Unreal
Epic Games unveiled its Unreal Engine 5.4 Preview 1 at its annual State of Unreal event at the Game Developers Conference. The company showed a plethora of visually arresting announcements, unveiling the latest advancements in Unreal Engine technology and innovative collaborations within the gaming industry. It’s been a year since Epic Games launched Unreal Editor […]
Read MoreEpic Games updates prices for non-game Unreal Engine projects
The pricing update applies to only those who are not making games. Now, Epic Games is providing pricing options for non-game users of the Unreal Engine, Twinmotion, and RealityCapture. With the introduction of Unreal Engine 5.4 in April, Epic Games will introduce new seat-based subscriptions for non-game industries. This need to monetize the engine coincides […]
Read MoreApple reverses course, reinstates Epic Games’ developer account
Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the gaming industry’s top leaders? Learn more about GamesBeat Summit sponsorship opportunities here. One day after banning Epic Games’ iOS developer account, Apple has reinstated the game publisher and its third-party App Store ambitions. Following Apple and Epic’s lengthy legal battle over the tech giant’s […]
Read MoreApple Reverses Course and Allows Epic Games to Start Competing App Store
Days after Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, complained publicly that Apple had blocked it from starting a competing app store in Europe, the technology companies said Apple had reversed course and would allow Epic to go ahead with its plan. The reversal highlights the way that Apple is changing its operations to comply with […]
Read MoreApple terminates Epic’s third party iOS game store ambitions
Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the gaming industry’s top leaders? Learn more about GamesBeat Summit sponsorship opportunities here. Apple has terminated Epic Game’s iOS developer account, stiffiling the game publisher’s ambitions of an EU third-party iOS app store. In a blog post, the Fortnite publisher shared a letter from Apple […]
Read MoreEpic Games ‘hackers’ admit threat of leak was phony
Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the gaming industry’s top leaders? Learn more about GamesBeat Summit sponsorship opportunities here. An alleged hack of Epic Games was revealed, by the “hackers” in question, to be fake. Last week, a ransomware group claimed to have made off with 200GB of unspecified data from […]
Read MoreApple’s $1.9B EU fine for app store barriers could foreshadow gaming changes
Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the gaming industry’s top leaders? Learn more about GamesBeat Summit sponsorship opportunities here. The European Commission fined Apple $1.9 billion (1.8 billion euros) today for putting barriers in place for music apps in its app store. The fine validated antitrust concerns raised by Spotify about […]
Read MoreHow Regulations Fractured Apple’s App Store
Since introducing the App Store in 2008, Apple has run it largely the same way across 175 countries, right down to the 30 percent commission it has collected on every app sold. The company calls the result an economic miracle. The store has generated more than $1 trillion in sales, helped create more than seven […]
Read MoreCroft-y sleuths discover Tomb Raider Remastered 1-3 has a better version on the Epic Games store, of all places—except for some busted achievements
The brush-up of Lara Croft’s classic adventures to pilfer tombs and shoot dinosaurs has mostly gone down well with fans—we even gave it a very respectable 78% in our Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered Review. Turns out it could’ve been even better if you brought it on the—checking my notes here—Epic Games Store. Wait, really? As […]
Read MoreAn anonymous modder has brought one of the best mobile games, Infinity Blade, to PC 5 years after it left the App Store
Infinity Blade is not something I’ve had cause to think about for a damn long time. The swipey ARPG launched on iOS way back in 2010, and because I’ve never owned an Apple product I was left out of all the fun. And there was plenty of fun to be had, with simple-but-responsive brawls and […]
Read MoreEpic Games Store hits 270M PC users, up 17% from 2022
Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the gaming industry’s top leaders? Learn more about GamesBeat Summit sponsorship opportunities here. Epic Games said the Epic Games Store has hit 270 million PC players in 2023, up 40 million, or 17% from 2022. This community now has a total of 804 million Epic […]
Read MoreEpic Games plans return to iOS in Europe thanks to DMA
Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the gaming industry’s top leaders? Learn more about GamesBeat Summit sponsorship opportunities here. Epic Games revealed today that it’s planning to return to Apple’s digital storefront this year, at least in Europe. After having parted ways with Apple in 2020 under less-than-amicable circumstances, Epic now […]
Read MoreThe future of Xbox: Is there method in the madness? | Kaser Focus
Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the gaming industry’s top leaders? Learn more about GamesBeat Summit sponsorship opportunities here. Is everything okay over at Xbox? That’s the prevailing question this week, as the games publisher/console manufacturer seems to be making some strange business moves this week. XboxEra broke a story this […]
Read MoreThe metaverse is back. But let’s not call it the metaverse | The DeanBeat
When Disney shut down its metaverse division on March 28, 2023, the end of the 50-person division was interpreted as doom for the metaverse, the over-hyped universe of virtual worlds that are all interconnected, like in novels such as Snow Crash and Ready Player One. By May 8, Business Insider ran a story with the headline, “RIP Metaverse,” […]
Read MoreTrevor Noah Launched A New Comedy Special In An Unexpected Place: ‘Fortnite’
Now that he’s in his post-The Daily Show career, Trevor Noah is making it clear that he’s no stranger to innovation. In a bold new move, Noah produced a new comedy special on an unexpected platform: Fortnite. The wildly popular online game has featured several musical performances in recent years, but Noah thinks Fortnite can […]
Read MoreAll the things Disney’s Bob Iger said about the $1.5B investment in Epic and the new Disney universe
Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the gaming industry’s top leaders? Learn more about GamesBeat Summit sponsorship opportunities here. Disney CEO Bob Iger gave air time in today’s earnings call to the partnership where Disney will invest $1.5 billion in Epic Games to build a new Disney universe that resembles a […]
Read MoreDisney invests $1.5 billion in Epic, announces new ‘entertainment universe’ in Fortnite
Disney has announced a $1.5 billion investment into Epic Games as part of a new partnership to create an “open games and entertainment universe” in Fortnite. “Our exciting new relationship with Epic Games will bring together Disney’s beloved brands and franchises with the hugely popular Fortnite in a transformational new games and entertainment universe,” Walt […]
Read MoreDisney invests $1.5B in Fortnite maker Epic Games to build a persistent game universe
Disney is investing $1.5 billion for an equity stake in Fortnite and Unreal Engine maker Epic Games as part of a broader partnership to create a new Disney gaming universe. The companies plan to create an expansive and open games and entertainment universe. I would say they’re building a metaverse, if the word weren’t so […]
Read MoreDevelopers Pan Apple’s New Plan for App Store in Europe
After 15 years of dictating how apps are distributed on iPhones, Apple has been forced to take marching orders from European regulators. A new law to bolster tech competition has demanded that Apple open its devices to competing app stores and payment alternatives. But app makers say Apple’s response to the law, which is intended […]
Read MoreEpic taunts Apple with a banana as Tim Sweeney decries new iOS rules in the EU as ‘hot garbage’
Epic has launched a Fortnite tease that is tweaking Apple’s nose about new rules set to come into force in the EU. The brief clip shows Peely, the Fortnite banana mascot, floating backwards into the void while making the “I’m watching you” gesture with two fingers. It adds a shoutout to the EU’s new Digital […]
Read MoreEpic Games CEO blasts Apple for ‘malicious compliance’ with EU Digital Markets Act
Do you want to get the latest gaming industry news straight to your inbox? Sign up for our daily and weekly newsletters here. Apple announced its plan today to comply with “gatekeeper” restrictions in the European Union’s Digital Markets Act today. But with the ink barely dry on that Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney blasted […]
Read MoreTilted Towers resists the yoke of imperial aggression as the British Army gives up on its Fortnite livestream plan
There are famously only 22 countries in the entire world that Britain has not invaded at some point during its history. But now you can add Fortnite to that list, as the British Army has given up its plan to hold a livestreamed competition later this week between influencer-led teams on its very own custom […]
Read MoreThe British Army made its own Fortnite map as a recruitment tool, but Epic could block it
America’s Army was at one time the world’s most (in)famous videogame military recruitment tool, but now that it’s out of the picture the British are taking their shot. The British Army has revealed a new “Fortnite experience” called Operation: Belong, and it plans to livestream an influencer-led competition on it next week. Yung Filly and […]
Read MoreRock Band 4 won’t get any more DLC because we’re living in Fortnite’s world now
Rock Band 4 never made it to PC. Developer Harmonix said in 2015 that it was uncertain whether there was a sufficient audience for the game on PC, and then in 2016 it proved that worry valid by launching a crowdfunding campaign for a PC version that barely achieved half of its $1.5 million goal. […]
Read MoreU.S. Supreme Court declines to hear Apple v. Epic antitrust appeal
Do you want to get the latest gaming industry news straight to your inbox? Sign up for our daily and weekly newsletters here. The U.S. Supreme Court has declined a request to hear the antitrust case between Apple and Fortnite and Unreal Engine developer, Epic Games. Both companies filed appeals, but now the prior ruling […]
Read MoreFamily Guy creator Seth MacFarlane says he ‘had to have somebody explain to me what the f*ck Fortnite is’ before they could add Peter Griffin to the game
Fortnite added Peter Griffin from Family Guy recently, and if you can push past the existential dread that sentence may give you, it’s a no-brainer. Once a PvE co-op builder, Fortnite’s battle royale game mode has long outgrown its humble roots and become an ‘Oops! All Franchises’ monolith. But somehow, Seth MacFarlane had never heard […]
Read MoreThe ESRB has started slapping blockchain games with Adults Only ratings, so Epic has changed its store policy to allow them
Unlike Steam, the Epic Games Store has a hard-and-fast rule against adult content. Its content guidelines state very clearly that “products with Adults Only ratings cannot be distributed on the Epic Games Store.” But it recently updated those guidelines to allow AO-rated games on the store for one specific reason: If they were given that […]
Read MoreI hate to admit it, but I would absolutely watch Zack Snyder’s Fortnite movie
It should come as no surprise that Zack Snyder is up for making a Fortnite movie, if anyone is shopping around for a director. It would be a licence to print money. It could be a complete stinker and it would still probably be the most watched movie of all time. If Epic’s interested, I’d […]
Read MoreGoogle Allows More App Payment Options in Antitrust Deal With States
Google said on Monday that it would allow developers on its Play app store to offer direct payment options to users and would pay $700 million to settle an antitrust suit brought by state attorneys general, in the company’s latest move to navigate increased regulatory scrutiny of its power. The suit, brought in July 2021, […]
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