“But Epic broke the rules” is not a defense of Apple’s behavior. As per the EC, Apple’s developer agreement contains clauses that are now and always have been *illegal*. Epic ‘broke’ the terms of an illegal contract in order to, among other things, test its legality in court and in regulation. We have our answer now: Apple’s terms were illegal. Epic was right to break them. I care nothing for how much money Epic makes, how its leadership tweets, or how Epic’s deals with console makers are worded

We are all, as developers, signed up to and subject to Apple’s illegal agreement, to the detriment of us, our families, our products and our users. And almost none of us have the resources to challenge any part of that developer agreement without risking all of the above.

“But Epic broke the rules!” “But Tim Sweeney tweets too much!” “But Spotify just wants money!”

Give me a fucking break.

@stroughtonsmith When asked for comment about Epic selling ripped assets in their store, this was what they had to say:

"Pursuant to the Marketplace Distribution Agreement, each Marketplace seller represents and warrants to Epic that they have appropriate rights to upload their content. As with any store that hosts third-party content, however, Epic is not in a position to independently verify such rights, and Epic makes no such guarantee to purchasers of the content."

They sell stolen IP.

@stroughtonsmith Honestly, with that admission alone, they should not be allowed to run a digital storefront anywhere.
@stroughtonsmith (And yes, Epic being the messenger here really does cloud how *I* view the entire argument, because I find them a completely untrustworthy source; I extend much more sympathy towards Spotify in this respect)