[zachm0]

If I'm reading this right, you are saying that competition would be worse for consumers? Can you name a scenario where opening up a market to competitors has been a net negative to consumers? I can't think of any off the top of my head, but I haven't thought about it for very long.

Yes going around to different stores to find the best price is annoying, but you are under no obligation to do it. You can't say shopping around is a worse experience for the end user because it is a problem entirely of their own making. If shopping around is that much of a hassle you could always just stick to the Apple App Store.

[ryandrake]

As a user it’s annoying. On a PC in order to access every game you need to have Steam, the Epic store, the Microsoft store, all these stores... argh! You want game X? Only on Store A. Game Y? Only on Store B! What a pain for no reason! I just want one store that has everything in it. Why do we always have to have a dozen competing versions of everything?!

Same with Netflix, and Hulu, and Prime, and Disney, and HBOgo, and on and on and on. As a user it’s on my shoulders to navigate all this complexity. Yuck!

This whole “single AppStore” thing is only a big problem to developers. That’s why it gets so much attention and air time here because only developers whine about it and we are all developers. As an end user I just want one app distribution system to worry about.

[mdoms]

Do you really think this is a net negative? On balance, that having to open a couple of launchers to find your game is a greater hardship than the benefits of a competitive ecosystem resulting in better prices, a better deal for developers and ultimately more games to play?

[yibg]

I think it depends on the distribution. If there are a lot of exclusives, instead of just being on different stores with different prices it's probably fine. But judging by digital store history, the games are likely to be exclusive to one store.

Imagine if toilet paper is only sold at walmart, and paper towel is only sold at target. This already happens for some things of course, and for those in physical stores it's still annoying. This is a large part of the reason I shop on Amazon. Most stuff I want are there.

[ryanobjc]

Well the better prices is just a theory. I don’t even see it planning out. The cheaper fees don’t even have to be passed on consumers - if you had a beat selling property, why would you discount?

If epic wins, they’ll eventually raise prices and reap all the profits. Why wouldn’t they?

[gulbanana]

yes

[chongli]

On a PC in order to access every game you need to have Steam, the Epic store, the Microsoft store, all these stores... argh! You want game X? Only on Store A. Game Y? Only on Store B! What a pain for no reason!

This is a problem because each of these stores use their own proprietary client. If instead they all used a public API then there could be an open source client that can access any of the stores.

We of course already have a possible client: the web browser. It works great for all sorts of e-commerce sites. It just doesn’t work for installing games from these stores. That could be changed, though.

I think if Apple is forced to open iOS to alternative stores, then I would like to see an API based approach. Force all the stores to compete within the same app, so they’re only competing on price and selection.

[ryanobjc]

This is hopelessly naive and overly credible.

Companies with power and leverage won’t switch to an “open api” and generic ui. It’s better for them to offer their own proprietary experience and to be able to improve it.

Even if what you described was something companies would buy into... sounds like instead of N App Store programs to run, there’s be N App Store websites/urls to visit. what about payments? You’d need a trusted platform operator to avoid everyone having their own payment system and users having to enter details multiple times.

Also API to WHAT? Every App Store on windows has api access... to the os and install mechanisms. Any further value add services will require a trusted online partner (payments, security reviews, downloads?).

[yibg]

This is already true for the streaming services. The same complaints still apply there.

[Kinrany]

It's just a package manager with multiple registries (solved problem) and paid packages (not a hard problem).

Gog Galaxy already exists, too.

[ryanobjc]

Deregulation of the power grid in California.

Competition focuses on price with a presumption that quality won’t suffer because users will switch. Well that isn’t necessarily so, it’s a hope rather than a hard fact. There are many examples, that I leave as an exercise to the reader, where a customer “chooses” a lower cost item with poor quality, including harmfully so.

[yibg]

It's not just about competition, it's about exclusivity. It's not about going around to different stores to find the best price necessarily, but rather going to different stores to buy different things.

[arugulum]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_crash_of_1983