by Jason Snell
Epic to Apple: Don’t bring Unreal Engine into this
The legal filings from Epic Games just keep on coming, as Kim Lyons and Russell Brandom report at The Verge:
Epic has asked the court to restrain Apple from revoking that access while the case is ongoing. Apple responded to the request on Friday, emphasizing that it was enforcing previously stated policies, but not denying that iOS support was at risk.
Epic says removing support would be unnecessarily punitive, affecting developers who have built on Epic’s engine but have no direct interest in the case…. The filing came alongside a new declaration from Microsoft in support of Epic’s motion, emphasizing how disastrous it would be to revoke Epic’s access to Apple’s developer tools.
I dislike many of Apple’s App Store policies, and think they should change—but let’s be clear about this. Epic can revert the changes it made to the Fortnite app specifically to cause the incident and still continue its lawsuit against Apple. Epic is being strategically smart in pushing hard to get that restraining order, but I’m skeptical that legal intervention is called for when Epic can defuse this situation by returning to the status quo while it presses its case in court.
Given how calculating Epic has been about every step it has taken in this manufactured controversy, I also have to assume that it knew full well that Unreal Engine would be a target. Microsoft’s support of Epic is understandable, given the importance of Unreal Engine, but let’s remember that this is a situation entirely of Epic’s making. In the end, will Epic’s status as a legal provocateur make developers more or less likely to use Unreal Engine?