Tuesday, August 18th 2020
A Battle Royale for the Ages: Apple Announces Decision to Remove Unreal Engine from iOS and Mac Tools; Epic Games Responds With Another Lawsuit
The epic (ahem) battle between Epic Games and Apple is becoming increasingly nastier, as Apple has communicated to the game and game engine developers that it plans on terminating all of Epic developer accounts on its ecosystem (both on iOS or MacOS) by August 28th. If done, this would impede not only Epic from developing for these systems, but also would impact any and all companies that actually employ the Unreal Engine in their development process, be it final or merely as a toolbox. It's case to say that Apple has its finger firmly set on the big, red button.
This move from Apple comes in wake of the calculated feud initiated by Epic Games last week with both Google and Apple. What some may have failed to see is that the Epic Games move was a coordinated, well-thought-out one, in that the company knew - or thought they knew - the full ramifications of what they were setting in motion. Epic Games, with its newfound budget and clout, is looking to become a banner for developers, spearheading a charge that is looking to brunt the walled garden approach. In fact, the company is even looking to form a "coalition of Apple critics", and is looking for companies to join its bandwagon in fighting against the Apple walled-garden and middle-man approach to software distribution.
One company that has already thrown its hat in the ring with Epic, albeit in the most non-committal way possible (via words), is Spotify, who said that:
Epic Games, of course, says that Apple is overreaching with this decision to remove Unreal Engine developer access and accounts, threatening to terminate a non-related business asset from Epic that has never breached any of Apple's regulations. According to the lawsuit, "Not content simply to remove Fortnite from the App Store, Apple is attacking Epic's entire business in unrelated areas. Left unchecked, Apple's actions will irreparably damage Epic's reputation among Fortnite users and be catastrophic for the future of the separate Unreal Engine business."
Epic is seeking preliminary injunctive relief (which would freeze Apple's decision before an actual judgment is reached in court), which it says is necessary to prevent its business from being irreparably harmed. The company also asks that Fortnite be returned to the App Store with the direct payment option added last week (and which set in motion this particular chain of events) still in place.
In a statement to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, regarding Epic's developer account termination, Apple said:
Sources:
Epic Games Newsroom via Twitter, via TechSpot, MacRumors, MacRumors on Spotify
This move from Apple comes in wake of the calculated feud initiated by Epic Games last week with both Google and Apple. What some may have failed to see is that the Epic Games move was a coordinated, well-thought-out one, in that the company knew - or thought they knew - the full ramifications of what they were setting in motion. Epic Games, with its newfound budget and clout, is looking to become a banner for developers, spearheading a charge that is looking to brunt the walled garden approach. In fact, the company is even looking to form a "coalition of Apple critics", and is looking for companies to join its bandwagon in fighting against the Apple walled-garden and middle-man approach to software distribution.
We applaud Epic Games' decision to take a stand against Apple and shed further light on Apple's abuse of its dominant position. Apple's unfair practices have disadvantaged competitors and deprived consumers for far too long. The stakes for consumers and app developers large and small couldn't be higher and ensuring that the iOS platform operates competitively and fairly is an urgent task with far-reaching implications.The app store philosophy levies heavy fees towards all developers simply for software distribution, arguably under the guise of "consumer safety and a consistent experience". The move by Epic Games to host a video called "Nineteen Eighty-Fortnite," parodying Apple's iconic "1984" ad was a clearly a prepared response to Apple's predictable decision to remove Fortnite from the Apple Store, as was the swift lawsuit launched against Apple. Epic Games is also taking advantage of its newfound public opinion weight conquered with its consumer and developer-friendly Epic Games Store, its perceived standing in the industry, as well as its pedigree as developer of the hugely popular Unreal Engine and Fortnite game. These have culminated in the launch of a social-media campaign against Apple with the hashtag #freefortnite.
Epic Games, of course, says that Apple is overreaching with this decision to remove Unreal Engine developer access and accounts, threatening to terminate a non-related business asset from Epic that has never breached any of Apple's regulations. According to the lawsuit, "Not content simply to remove Fortnite from the App Store, Apple is attacking Epic's entire business in unrelated areas. Left unchecked, Apple's actions will irreparably damage Epic's reputation among Fortnite users and be catastrophic for the future of the separate Unreal Engine business."
Epic is seeking preliminary injunctive relief (which would freeze Apple's decision before an actual judgment is reached in court), which it says is necessary to prevent its business from being irreparably harmed. The company also asks that Fortnite be returned to the App Store with the direct payment option added last week (and which set in motion this particular chain of events) still in place.
In a statement to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, regarding Epic's developer account termination, Apple said:
AppleThe App Store is designed to be a safe and trusted place for users and a great business opportunity for all developers. Epic has been one of the most successful developers on the App Store, growing into a multibillion dollar business that reaches millions of iOS customers around the world. We very much want to keep the company as part of the Apple Developer Program and their apps on the Store. The problem Epic has created for itself is one that can be easily remedied if they submit an update of their app that reverts it to comply with the guidelines they agreed to and which apply to all developers. We won't make an exception for Epic because we don't think it's right to put their business interests ahead of the guidelines that protect our customers.Tim Sweeney himself describes Epic Games' Stance as thus:
Tim SweeneyAt the most basic level, we're fighting for the freedom of people who bought smartphones to install apps from sources of their choosing, the freedom for creators of apps to distribute them as they choose, and the freedom of both groups to do business directly.
87 Comments on A Battle Royale for the Ages: Apple Announces Decision to Remove Unreal Engine from iOS and Mac Tools; Epic Games Responds With Another Lawsuit
If Epic doesn't wanna pay rent for the services they get from the Appstore and Play store, they can fuck off. Who has to deal with payments, credit card frauds, server maintanance cost and support?
They're crying about a 30% cut, Music artists get about 15% at BEST.
Epic misplayed their hand, IMO. They got Fortnite pulled from iOS, Google Play, and Samsung, THEN they tried to gain alliances with other developers. What developer wants to join that party? It’s not even like Epic is being professional about this process. It’s like siding with the class clown who just got sent to detention.
In my mind, Epic is doing the wrong thing for the right reasons. I can't imagine a court who will rule against Apple, so lawsuits isn't the way to settle this. What Epic should be doing is bringing together all the developers who have a beef with Apple and organizing a group boycott where they pull their apps off of the store themselves rather than wait for Apple's ToS to kick in. Unfortunately, Apple has grown large enough to have in-house replacements for pretty much every 3rd party app in their store, so it won't be a financially damaging tactic. But by pulling their apps from the store, they'll essentially be building Apple's walls higher and secluding iDevice users from a more open development environment where users have more freedom. Not that things are rosey in the world of Android, but it is a platform more open to respecting user choice.
Or Epic could just buy Amazon's IP from the failed Fire Phone and build their own platform.
well you can defense that as a barrier of entrance.
oh btw, i fully support the free market, includeding private courts and private war.
1) vbucks are encoded into the game, epic doesn't have to charge for'em, they could give everyone playing 1billion right now for no money and 5 minutes on a keyboard, so they don't need to charge that much for'em.. that could make 1000Vbucks $1.00 use and have apple charge'em .30 and PROVE they aren't greedy, but ask if they'll do that.
2) isn't kinda funny that epic got over a billion dollars from others just before they did this? wonder how many other companies are in this to take apple and google down for their own interests >.>
So I don’t know what Epics real goal is they have their own wheeling a dealing, why the 30% has suddenly become “unreasonable” despite being the “going rate” and it’s not like they are hurting for cash or are some small Dev trying to get out there.
If they did this to Epic, especially the engine which broke no rules, what would stop them to do the same to anybody else?
They are abusing they monopolistic position on the app store.
I don't see how this will end well for apple.
That's competition.
Still rooting for Epic here. You can see they're serious about this and the push is absolutely necessary against these giants. Will Epic be the next evil distributor? Maybe so... and then its time for the next one to shake things up. But that 30% cut isn't coming back and that is a big, big win for everyone and a straight budget cut for the top-end, which was long overdue.
Even if Epic loses this one, the movement is there.Still failing completely to make the distinction between an app and the gatekeeper of all apps, I see.
Keep crusading, in the land of the blind.Yep. Its a bit like Belarus right now... powers that be seem to have it all under control... until all of a sudden all of it is gone. its a matter of faith and the comparison couldn't be better really, Apple is the same sort of dictatorship over what gets out and at what price. Google is no different, because sideloading is opening up to malicious software as well. Its a non-discussion to defend that as an equal chance.
Are you FOR F**KING REAL?
If EPIC wins, it will be a win for a horde of developers. (It is not clear how hard their case is, I'm pretty sure Spotify wins in EU)
If they lose, it's a win by a filthy corporation that barely pays more income taxes, than an average grocery store in a small town, that just wants its cut from anything.
Win for assholes who banned Stadia and Microsoft streaming from their platform, as they have some plans to take a cut even from that.Brilliant plan.
What if people refused to by from The Standard Oil (which was doing things that were totally legal, mind you)?
Remind me, how that worked.
Will EPIC give 100% cut to the developers on EPIC Game Store ?
And if you were asking "are there any restrictions on how to sell stuff in a game, which was downloaded from EPIC game store", no, not even on Steam.
And even if it WAS NOT THE CASE it doesn't change anything at all, even if Sweeny is involved in slave trade, sex trafficing, child pornography, a genocide, serial murders, and rapes, it DOESN'T CHANGE A DAMN THING in discussion about Apple's practices. How freaking broken you line of thinking is, dear god...
Bypassing the platform's cut for in-app purchase = Freemium game developer gets 100% revenue.
If EPIC really support 100% to developer, why not apply it to its own EPIC game store ?
If EPIC itself is doing the same practice as Apple / Google store, none of this lawsuit is justified, it is just EPIC's Greed here.
People keep yelling EGS is 'a platform'... but its a store application and not device specific. Any competitor can compete with EGS by offering a similar cut on distribution costs, or undercut them, and offer a similar service. That is what EGS did wrt Steam, as well.
Apple and Google's Store applications however are far more than that. They are a gateway, that allows curated and verified (safe!) content on mobile devices. These mobile devices have no other safe (verified) way to access apps. In Apple's case, that's a hard restriction and in Google's case, it requires active opt-in and user risk to circumvent the restriction. Its clearly advanced user territory and its obvious general consumer public won't be happy going there. Its not something Google encourages either.
I don't know what's so hard to grasp here, but apparently red EGS haze has people confused, for quite a while now. First EGS was a walled garden and this was bad, now its the same as a Play Store which the same detractors use every day. Do you even logic? Its like bad car comparisons. Wow.
EGS is literally nothing more then a storefront and a hosting service. Litteraly nothing more then that, all the other platforms are an ecosystem. The only part of EGS I could call an ecosystem is the discount you get when using UE.
So yes I do pay more taxes in the Netherlands (Steam) then i.e. Zimbabwe(EGS). But i actually love paying that since i get so much in return.
EGS prices are seldom cheaper then steam even though it takes a smaller cut.
Ecosystem, my arse. We are talking about puny software stores with laughable upkeep.It's not enough that braindead are posting here, we need some lies mixed in, to make this thread even more epic (no pun intended).
And as someone else noted, 40% owned by absolute behemoth called Tencent
But yes, I am for real. This is a lawsuit - and by law Epic is the guilty party here. Epic are using Apple's property and agreed to Apple's terms. Epic violated those terms and were kicked off the platform. If they want to use the platforms that Apple or Google created, they need to abide by Apple or Google's rules. It's one of the few cases where something is actually pretty black and white, legally.
Let's say I build something unique that you want to use. I agree to let you use it if you follow my rules, but you break those rules, so I stop you from using my thing.
That is all this is; Sweeny at Epic is throwing a tantrum because he doesn't like the rules. It doesn't matter that Apple and Google are greedy and it doesn't matter if you or I like or dislike Apple or Google. Their rules are binding, legally. Unless Sweeney has found a technicality in the agreements he signed with Apple and Google that prove Apple and Google broke the terms of their contracts first, Sweeny/Epic are at legal fault here. Like I said before, black-and-white certainty that Sweeny will lose his lawsuit because he doesn't have a leg to stand on.
I can only assume that Sweeny hopes the publicity of this (losing) case is enough to poke a wider anti-competitive investigation into the Google/Apple ecosystems. That, however is tentative at best, and unrelated to this particular pair of lawsuits against Apple and Google.
It means they'll offer their platform , their bandwidth and their advertisement for FREE .
IS THIS THE CASE ?
If yes,
1- Why not just take 0% cut from ALL GAMES and let all developer get 100% ?
2- Why not all games on their platforms became Freemium ?
There must be some restrictions in their T&C to prevent some stupid things like
"Free to download but had to do $50 in-app purchase to unlock the full game"
DO YOU GET IT ?