The developer of one of the most popular games on the planet, Fortnite, has won a big legal round in its battle against Apple. Epic Games has been at the vanguard of the fight to rid app developers of the monetary shackles of Apple and its requirement that all apps must use its Apple Store where they will see anywhere from 15 to 30 percent of their gross revenues raked by Apple.
U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers issued the injunction which now allows developers to include links to purchase its app at locations other than Apple and for far less commission or none at all. It is a relationship that has soured many app developers on using the Apple platform but it is a necessary evil due to the wild popularity of iPhones and Apple products throughout the world.
This latest development is a win for the developers and a loss for Apple, whose stock price took a 3.31 percent hit when the news was released.
“This allows for companies to dramatically increase revenues and reduce their cost of goods,” said Dan Burkhart, CEO of Recurly, which processes subscription transactions for app developers. “Gaming companies are certainly going to be one of the most significant beneficiaries of this. Streaming media, entertainment, and publishing — these categories are all going to greatly benefit.”
China’s Crackdown on Esports Hands Advantage to Rivals
Esports and video games spell big business in China and it also possesses one of the deepest talent pools available. But that competitive advantage will soon be lost because of a sweeping government crackdown on gamers under the age of 18 who will be limited to just three hours of game time per week.
This is in stark contrast with esports powerhouses like the United States and South Korea, not to mention Europe, where the professionals practice up to 70 hours per week. And now that there is a coordinated effort to add esports as an Olympic sport, China will be faced with the consequences of its actions as its esports athletes will be at a severe competitive disadvantage.
The sports odds on esports tournaments are found at all of the best online sportsbooks and before this announcement, China would have been a clear favorite in that Olympic category but no more if this legislation is enacted.
Maurice “Amazing” Stückenschneider, a professional League of Legends player and coach based in Germany, told the Financial Times. “China has the most top teams in the world,” “[Now] it’s impossible [for China] to continue any esports development.”
Fake News
Every media outlet claims to be fair and balanced, even if only one uses those words as their slogan, but it has become increasingly difficult for consumers to distinguish between what is real and what is a distortion of the truth. Well, the Indian news channel, Republic TV, took it one step further and released footage that wasn’t simply taken out of context, or displayed with a political spin, it was completely false.
As we all know the Taliban has taken over Afghanistan since the United States military decided to withdraw and cede all military control to the Afghan government. Upon doing so, it became immediately clear that the Afghan army had no desire to defend their nation against the marauding Taliban and soon a blood-thirsty theocracy was back in control of the vast majority of Afghanistan.
However, there remains one bastion of anti-Taliban forces comprised of former Afghan army soldiers and resistance fighters in the Panjshir Valley under the command of Ahmad Massoud. And according to Republic TV, the Taliban isn’t the only military force the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, formerly known as the Northern Alliance, is fighting.
A caption reading, “Pakistan army supporting Taliban against Northern Alliance in Panjshir” along with footage showing what was presented as Pakistani Air Force fighters conducting airstrikes on the contested region was presented to its viewing audience. The only problem was the footage being broadcast was actually that of a video game called Arma-3 and not the real thing.
It appears as though Republic TV may have taken its cue from British-based, Hasti TV, which purports to be an Afghan news channel aimed at Afghan and Persian people in the UK and throughout the world. In their drop, the caption read, “A video that we just received from Panjshir shows that a Pakistani military airplane is flying over Panjshir. Until now, the official sources have not approved this video” as well as the accompanying video game footage.
Faran Jeffrey, a self-described expert in reporting and analyzing acts of terror across the globe and currently based in the UK, tweeted, “EXCLUSIVE FOOTAGE showing Pakistani drone attacking rebel targets in Panjshir. #Afghanistan”.
But in a subsequent tweet, he posted, ” Fun fact: The video is from a video game and is currently being shared by pro-resistance accounts as proof of claims that Pakistani drones are attacking Panjshir. I thought I should have some fun. Let’s see how many idiots here share this video with a straight face. (Laugh emoji).
