Gabriel likes gadgets, this has long been a foundational aspect of the Gabriel IP, as seen most recently in the adoption of a substantial amount of racing hardware. The tipping point is always there, he's always in the middle of it. His tipping point is really more of a seesaw.
So, when Apple said they weren't going to allow an app on their platform that streams games they don't have a cut or controlling capacity of - namely, this xCloud thing - they refused to allow it on their App Store. That's why Gabriel switched phones, which in my world would be a pretty seismic event but for him barely registers. This isn't even the biggest story related to Apple's behavior recently, but I think it's a lot more interesting than whether Tim Apple or Tim Epic wins in a war between trillionaires and billionaires. If you'd like an index of what we're talking about when we say Trillionaire, my browser doesn't even recognize it as a word. It's suggesting that I use "millionaire" instead. Yeah, you're close buddy, except in this case we're talking about a million millions. That help you at all, Chrome?
Epic would like to litigate this out in the culture, utilizing people's children as footsoldiers, but the monopoly case here is interesting to me - that The App Store and the Payment infrastructure that undergirds it are being, in effect, "bundled." There's still teeth in that - you might recall, in simpler times, how Microsoft "bundled" its browser with Windows and got grill marks for it. I'd be surprised if it's enough, but Epic is acting at a time where this is already a concern: imagine a piece of plastic that has been flexed over and over until a white seam has been produced. That is where they are kicking.
It's a reality of that system though, and it's well understood, which is why I find the case of the xCloud streaming app so much more interesting as a monopolistic flex. Well, maybe duopolistic flex, because there's two providers for platforms like this and one of them is letting it happen. Not allowing it is such a naked exertion of market power. I mean, it's just Netflix, but for games. Right? They don't check in with Netflix every time Netflix makes a new show about a particular kind of person getting married under a set of specific conditions. And Bandersnatch is still up, right? How about the Kimmy Schmidt one? Okay, then. Fuck off.
Enriqua Lara came away from the season's first race with a podium finish, beat out by a fraction of a second by the hateful cyborg wardriver De Oeste. Maybe next year the commission will outlaw these spiteful machines, but for this season she will be forced to contend with a literal Road Weapon hailing from 2059 that knows neither fear nor hunger. Will her relationship with her mechanic Malaki be tested? Will this setback be grist for Vasily's engine mill, the subterranean crucible called ?????? Bao Tang waits in the paddock, cloaked in shadow, wrench repeatedly striking his open palm. Hong is also there. Come join us for the next episode of Motorsport Manager this afternoon at 2pm at the place things like this have historically occurred.
(CW)TB out.
