Epic Games vs Apple 司法訴訟：第5、6天

第五天討論的重點是「store within a store」，意即在 App 裡又另建一個軟體或遊戲商城的疑慮。蘋果在 iOS App Store 是禁止的，理由是他們無法管制 App 內軟體商城上架的內容。

但蘋果最終允許了《Roblox》上架 App Store，這款遊戲裡，另有數以百萬計的玩家自製遊戲。蘋果 App Store Review 主管 Trystan Kosmynka 的辯護證詞，值得節錄如下：（參考錄音）

蘋果律師 Moye: Did the ERB determine whether Roblox was a store within a store?

蘋果 Kosmynka: We determined it was not.

蘋果律師 Moye: And why was that determination made?

蘋果 Kosmynka: As I said yesterday, there’s experiences within Roblox that from our point of review we would not look at as a game, these are configurations that enable a particular experience in the world. It’s akin to something like Minecraft’s map. And so more that configuration can…

法官 YGR: I think that Mincraft is a game?

蘋果 Kosmynka: Minecraft itself is a game? Yes.

法官 YGR: So I don't understand, you said that yesterday, too. I don’t understand the distinction you’re making.

蘋果 Kosmynka: Your honor, in the case of Minecraft, you join their server. And when you join the server, that server has a particular world of that canvas. So that’s … before Minecraft. And they joined a particular world, there may be a castle that’s already prebuilt into that. So that would be a configuration. But the features and functionality of the overall game itself is not changing. And so in the same way that they could have the world be a castle, they could also have the world be a farm, but the mechanics of how each one of these experiences work remains the same. And the capabilities between those experiences…in the capabilities they said, security and privacy implications remain the same. These experiences are not capable of doing dynamic things beyond what the creator’s experience, has already predefined into that. And so that is akin to some other app … similar to lenses on Snapchat, where you put bunny ears on your face, that’s also an experience, a configuration file as opposed to software that’s downloaded that changes the entire construct of the app.

法官 YGR: Alright, go ahead.

（編按：蘋果 Kosmynka 表示，由於《Roblox》內的玩家自製遊戲，就像《Minecraft》內的自製地圖，是奠基於程式裡預先寫好的元件，因此軟體本身的功能機制是不變的，足以保障安全性與隱私性。

但這裡用來組裝的「元件功能」，到什麼程度可以被接受，實際上仍是一個模糊地帶。

譬如《Minecraft》裡有一種「紅石」元件，可以用來製作電路，甚至有人在上面製作出記憶體，這樣算是創造出新功能嗎？《Roblox》裡的玩家自製遊戲，甚至支援使用 Lua 程式語言，這樣算是能創造出新功能嗎？

又譬如蘋果《捷徑》的前身《Workflow》，在被蘋果收購之前，就已經有 HTTP Request 元件，可以自由存取 Web API，可以創造出小型 App 了，這樣算是創造出新功能嗎？而且《Workflow》已經內建了 Gallery 能下載別人創造出來的成品，這樣算是下載了別人的程式碼嗎？但最終《Workflow》不但沒被下架，還獲得了 2015 年蘋果設計大獎，並在 2017 年由蘋果收購。）

另外，蘋果指出 Epic Games Store 上有一款 itch.io 是獨立電玩遊戲商城，裡面有「不能說出名字」的性裸露成人遊戲，用來指涉不應允許 App 內軟體商城，引發遊戲社群議論。

Refs:

• https://groups.io/g/Apple-Epic-trial/message/5
• Tweet thread：https://twitter.com/Shannon_Liao/status/1390679110792454150、 https://twitter.com/mslopatto/status/1390682518790152197、 https://twitter.com/nickstatt/status/1390684367161380869、 https://twitter.com/thedextriarchy/status/1390688458658652165

第六天出席的重點是一名經濟學者專家 David Evans，先前蘋果指出 iOS 遊戲有很多競爭平台，包含家用遊戲機。但 David Evans 指出家用遊戲機市場並非行動遊戲市場的競爭對手，因為擁有家用遊戲機的玩家都擁有手機，且營收前 50 大的 iOS 遊戲中，僅有 7 款也有家用遊戲機版本，而下載量前 50 大的 iOS 遊戲中，更是只有 4 款有家用遊戲機版本。假若家用遊戲機是其競爭對手，那麼玩家甚至可以不用購買手機。

在《Fortnite》iOS 版總遊玩時間中，有高達 60.7% 是僅在 iOS 上的玩家，但在被下架之後，僅有 16.7% 轉移到其他平台。即使看《Fortnite》總體數據，有高達 82.7% 玩家僅在單一平台上遊玩，不會切換到其他平台，這進一步證實了 iOS 與其他遊戲平台並非競爭關係，而 App Store 確實壟斷了 iOS 遊戲市場。自從 2010 年左右，行動裝置市場便是 iOS 與 Android 雙頭寡占。

Refs:

• https://groups.io/g/Apple-Epic-trial/message/6
• Tweet thread：https://twitter.com/Shannon_Liao/status/1391767617157976068 、https://twitter.com/leah_nylen/status/1391819522353602560、https://twitter.com/doratki/status/1391770594786508800、https://twitter.com/thedextriarchy/status/1391771972481257476、https://twitter.com/nickstatt/status/1391773683648274432