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> Complaining there is only an Apple App Store is like buying a Ford and complaining Chevy parts don’t fit

Isn't a more apt comparison be that Ford does not allow Chevy to make and sell parts that fit to one of their vehicles.




Nintendo's store is the only one available on a Switch. That is almost a congruent comparison.


Except that you can buy games in a local store and play them on your Switch. When was the last time you bought an app in a convenience store and then installed it on your phone?


Games for which Nintendo has chosen to grant licenses and manufacturing to produce the cartridges and been paid for the privilege. It's exactly as limited as the online store, but sold as plastic instead of bits. There's no homebrew Switch games at your Best Buy.


This is true of the switch, but there are versions of both the PS5 and Xbox Series that don't have the ability to play physical media.

Do they skate because users can pay more to get a version of the hardware that has that capability?


The method of distribution isn’t the point at argument here, is it?

For this argument to participate we have to assume it implies that people could develop, compile and deploy Switch games to commodity memory cards and then install them.

Otherwise it is the same behavior, from the perspective of prohibiting competition.


What makes you think that I'm arguing the method of distribution rather than the number of independent sellers?


What are you arguing about then? Nintendo controls the Switch platform much more strictly than Apple does, it’s cheaper and much easier to ship a game on iOS


What does that change? Only advantage I can think of is that you can share/resell physical copies


Ah, good point.


How exactly? You can still only run applications approved by Nintendo. Also besides this the Switch is still massively more restrictive than the iOS appstore


The store itself is the point I had in mind as compared to the App Store as a means of distribution. I agree that these things seem anti-competitive but it is a good point on that topic that Switch games can be distributed without the software store.


> but it is a good point on that topic that Switch games can be distributed without the software store.

Perhaps, yet despite that the Apple app store is considerably more open in almost every other way.


Good point, and maybe that should scrutinized in the same way


I'm pretty sure Chevy could make 3rd party parts if they wanted to, but that really isn't their economic imperative.




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