> "Millions of developers rely on the Unreal Engine to develop software, and hundreds of millions of consumers use that software," argues Epic.
> "Developers that intend to sell their apps for use on iOS or macOS devices will have to forgo the Unreal Engine in favor of other engines," reads the motion.
That is what I was expecting after Epic went after Apple. They had to know it would hurt them and all the devs using the engine.
Unity many times has feared not being able to build to Apple like in 2010 for the JIT/AOT item which led to more AOT and eventually C++ IL2CPP to get the requirement of native over virtual machine based engines (it was ultimately unnecessary and later Mono included AOT). [1]
Epic had to know this would be VERY risky and now they have put all their devs at risk who target iOS. Who knows that type of fallout this will have long term. It is a battle of greed and not better products and that is what sucks. I don't like the way Epic is going about this at all. Not only is Epic being used by Tencent, they are using devs and their engine to mount a greed based attack on Apple.
No one is happy fully with all the App Store rules, and likewise no one is happy with all the Epic Game Store rules, but the platform maker has immense power and Epic knew what would happen. They pull the same type of stuff like when they blocked Miguel de Icaza's Mono/C# extension to UnrealEngine. https://twitter.com/migueldeicaza/status/1294445857266372611
Yeah I mean look at what Epic/Tencent did, they baited Apple hard. This was a play all along.
The worst is Epic/Tencent is going about this like they are doing it altruisitcally when their end goal is more power/take. They want their own app store on Apple and they want to have their own approval and their own take (Epic store is 12% as they are trying to catch Steam/Origin/others).
Thanks for thinking of the devs Tencent/Epic /s
The biggest bummer is I really look up to Tim Sweeney and respect all he has done for gaming. I hate that he ok'd this. Epic has 3 seats on the board and Tencent has 2, with 2 "observers" which are probably Tencent loyal. So at some point along the line Sweeney had to ok this... Looks like the Tencent money leverage got to him. He knew this would cause problems for devs that chose HIS engine. Why Tim Why. The battle of the Tims but ultimately greed that I am sure will lead to regulation that makes it worse for devs long term.
If Apple waived the 30% take if you used GameCenter or their game kits you think that would be seen as anti-competitive? Yes. What you have described is Epic engaging in anti-competitive behavior that isn't yet because they are the smaller of the store players.
I think people are short-sighted in what Apple did for gaming. Just go back to 2007.
Before Apple the only way to make a game was flash/PC with no markets other than sites.
Consoles and handhelds were for selected larger game studios only. Consoles always took 30% and it was near impossible to dev on them, very few indie programs.
Apple changed the game.
Apple opened up game development especially handheld.
That success of the App Store led to Google Play!.
It led to Unity and Unity Asset Store (which also takes 30%).
That led to Steam opening up (which also takes 30%). It even led to Epic Games store.
It also led to engines like Unity/Unreal being simplified. Unreal at one time was $300k per title, same with Valve, same with other engines. Now those are essentially free.
I sometimes think that Apple takes heat, yes some of their rules are annoying, but compared to consoles and the way it was before Apple it is massively better for indies/small/medium game companies. Mobile is in a space between open and console.
Epic is biting the hand that feeds here, and Unity would never even attempt something like this. I think Epic is pushed by Tencent to do this and there is deeper reasoning for this, but they are selling it as "for the greater good" which is a lie.
Who cares about that? Steve Wozniak also gave away the design for free at first, does that mean that apple has no copyright protection on their computers?
> "Developers that intend to sell their apps for use on iOS or macOS devices will have to forgo the Unreal Engine in favor of other engines," reads the motion.
That is what I was expecting after Epic went after Apple. They had to know it would hurt them and all the devs using the engine.
Unity many times has feared not being able to build to Apple like in 2010 for the JIT/AOT item which led to more AOT and eventually C++ IL2CPP to get the requirement of native over virtual machine based engines (it was ultimately unnecessary and later Mono included AOT). [1]
Epic had to know this would be VERY risky and now they have put all their devs at risk who target iOS. Who knows that type of fallout this will have long term. It is a battle of greed and not better products and that is what sucks. I don't like the way Epic is going about this at all. Not only is Epic being used by Tencent, they are using devs and their engine to mount a greed based attack on Apple.
No one is happy fully with all the App Store rules, and likewise no one is happy with all the Epic Game Store rules, but the platform maker has immense power and Epic knew what would happen. They pull the same type of stuff like when they blocked Miguel de Icaza's Mono/C# extension to UnrealEngine. https://twitter.com/migueldeicaza/status/1294445857266372611
Yeah I mean look at what Epic/Tencent did, they baited Apple hard. This was a play all along.
https://twitter.com/stroughtonsmith/status/12939179293654138...
The worst is Epic/Tencent is going about this like they are doing it altruisitcally when their end goal is more power/take. They want their own app store on Apple and they want to have their own approval and their own take (Epic store is 12% as they are trying to catch Steam/Origin/others).
Thanks for thinking of the devs Tencent/Epic /s
The biggest bummer is I really look up to Tim Sweeney and respect all he has done for gaming. I hate that he ok'd this. Epic has 3 seats on the board and Tencent has 2, with 2 "observers" which are probably Tencent loyal. So at some point along the line Sweeney had to ok this... Looks like the Tencent money leverage got to him. He knew this would cause problems for devs that chose HIS engine. Why Tim Why. The battle of the Tims but ultimately greed that I am sure will lead to regulation that makes it worse for devs long term.
[1] https://blogs.unity3d.com/2010/07/02/unity-and-ios-4-0-updat...