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The court ruled that Tim Sweeney really meant everything he said about the “meta universe”
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney (Tim Sweeney) has been talking about the “meta universe.” This is part of the reason why Epic sued Apple for its iOS App Store policy: If one of these platforms has a bodyguard at the door and requires a 30% entrance fee, it will be difficult to build a virtual world that is the same on all platforms. But it is also questionable whether Sweeney’s love for a term coined in science fiction really constitutes a business plan. Does Sweeney really believe in this meta-universe thing?
According to the U.S. District Court: Almost, yes.
“The court usually considers Mr. Sweeney’s personal beliefs about the future of Metaverse to be sincere,” read today’s Epic v Apple ruling.
As for what the metaworld is YesWell, the court understood it as “a digital virtual world in which individuals can create character avatars and play them through interactive programming and creating experiences.” This is the virtual world of Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash, the origin of the term- Ready Player One is a more modern reference-users can get a “social experience” and “gaming experience” not only in an online environment created by their operators, but also by their users. Think of Second Life, VRChat, and Roblox, although the court actually only mentioned the latter. (This is probably the best, because naked bananas have already caused a sensation.)
According to this definition of “kitchen sink”, Fortnite also has metaversey quality. This is a battle royale game, a place for social experiences such as movie trailer premieres and concerts — a large-scale end-of-season event will be held this weekend — and its creative mode allows users to build their own experience. (It’s weird to think that Fortnite was once just a co-op shooter that I didn’t care about. Now it has a Martin Luther King Jr. exhibition.)
However, I’m thinking that when talking about “meta universe”, the focus that appears on the screen is wrong, even if Sweeney himself said that meta universe is a “real 3D world” that mixes games and social. (He did not immediately accept an interview about the ruling.)
My understanding is that Epic’s metaverse vision-Sony has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in support-is not so much Travis Scott’s concert, as it is to make the platform irrelevant. The goal is to build a network where people can play, socialize, create, buy, and sell digital content, whether they are on a mobile phone, PC or smart refrigerator, and whether they are logged into a Steam account or their Epic Games Store account or they U.S. bank account. All of this is great for Fortnite, and Epic wants to turn it into a more creative platform (to share profits with creators such as Valve), but I don’t think Fortnite Yes The meta-universe being discussed reflects Epic’s true ambitions.
Epic’s broader goal of platform independence is online service It provides services for game developers for free. For example, Epic’s account service aims to “connect friends across platforms and devices.” To explain why it offers all of this for free, even for developers who have not published their games on the Epic Games Store, Epic says that everyone benefits from “developing a cross-platform account base and social graph for everyone.” Of course, Epic will benefit from controlling this platform beyond the platform.
However, Apple’s current App Store policy is hindering this vision. First, if you want to eliminate the differences between platforms, 30% of Apple’s in-app transactions are not ideal. Epic either earns 30% less when buying the iPhone Fortnite V-Bucks, or it only increases the V-Bucks price of the iPhone version. Now, Apple won’t even let Epic include a note in the Fortnite iOS app to let users know that they can buy V-Bucks elsewhere, let alone put their own payment processing system into the app (this is how Epic is Acquired Fortnite) launched the App Store last year).
Second, Apple does not allow iOS apps to sell other apps, which prevents Epic from releasing a mobile version of the Epic Games Store, and presumably in pursuit of surpassing Fortnite and V-Stags.
Today’s Epic v Apple ruling helped Epic solve one of these problems. The ruling supported Apple with an overwhelming advantage, but if it was the ending of an anime fight scene, when a razor-thin red line crossed Apple’s face, Apple’s triumphant laughter would be interrupted, indicating that it had only escaped 100 pieces. 99 pieces of katana.
Within two months, Apple must start allowing iOS apps to advertise its payment system. At the very least, Epic will be able to place a link in the Fortnite iPhone version, which will open a URL where they can buy cheaper V-Bucks.They may even put their payment processing system directly into the app-the ban is not entirely clear about this, and edge There is a good breakdown of how it is interpreted.
Epic didn’t get everything it wanted, but this was only the first attack in the Metaverse War. I was surprised that Epic had successfully launched any attacks. In addition, we learned that, in the opinion of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Tim Sweeney did not talk nonsense on the content of these metaverses.
In the ruling, the court also tried to define “electronic games”, which may be more difficult than defining “metafest.” I think it does a great job!