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The escalating battle between Apple and Epic Games has made it impossible for iPhone users around the world to download Fortnite.
But if the war between the two companies continues, it could affect hundreds of other games, Epic said Monday in a legal indictment. It described Apple’s actions as an “existential threat.”
If Apple disables Epic’s developer account, the company will not be able to maintain the Unreal Engine for iPhones and other Apple computers. Unreal is a long-standing set of technologies for displaying 3D graphics. Other game makers licensed it from Epic so they did not have to build the same features of the new one, and it is used in many popular games, although it is more popular on consoles and PCs than for mobile games.
The dispute began last Friday when Epic Fortnite updated so users could purchase digital character outfits and other items directly with a credit card. This is in violation of Apple’s App Store policy, so Apple removed Fortnite within hours. But Epic Games was prepared, and immediately filed a lawsuit accusing Apple of anti-competitive behavior. Apple is already under scrutiny from Congress over its control over the App Store, which is the only easy way for users to install software on the iPhone and iPad. Epic also launched a 30-second marketing campaign that encourages Fortnite gamers to “fight back” against Apple.
On Monday, Epic said that Apple not only threatened to remove Fortnite, but to completely shut down the company’s developer accounts. This would essentially make the Unreal Engine a dead-end technology on the iPhone and Mac, according to Epic.
“If Apple terminates Epic’s Apple Developer Program accounts, the consequences will be devastating,” Epic CEO Tim Sweeney wrote in a statement Monday. “Without access to these SDKs, APIs and other tools, Epic would not be able to develop future Unreal Engine updates for use on iOS and macOS, and would therefore be forced to stop Unreal Engine for iOS and macOS.”
Another major Epic product in dispute is a large escalation of Apple’s share, and could affect companies that have nothing to do with Fortnite but use Epic’s tools to create their games and apps.
Overall not the only game in town
The Unreal Engine dates back about 20 years, and is based on back-end technology that Epic built for a hit 1998 game called Unreal. If someone wants to create a new game, they can carefully create their own code to modify 3D graphics, or they can use software like Unreal Engine, which also allows the same game to run on multiple platforms – as on both Sony Playstation as Windows for example. Even Nintendo now uses Unreal Engine to make Switch games.
Unreal Engine is now on its fourth major version and works across almost every major computer platform.
Even if you are not a Fortnite player, you use Epic technology when playing PlayersUnknown’s Battlegrounds, or Rocket League, or Microsoft’s Minecraft Dungeons, among many other titles. Epic says its use is bigger than gaming: software makers in the medical world use it to build educational apps, and Hollywood studios use it to create realistic backgrounds and environments, for example.
Gamblers using the technology pay Epic 5% of the turnover if their game makes more than $ 1 million, or can negotiate a deal directly. Epic is a privately held company, and does not disclose how much money it makes from Unreal Engine versus its own properties. But the company is now valued at $ 17.3 billion after raising money from investors including Sony, Baillie Gifford, Fidelity, and Lightspeed last month. Investors believe that the ubiquity and future potential of the Unreal Engine is a big part of the company’s aerial appreciation.
Epic says it will be forced to stop updating the Unreal Engine for iOS and Mac computers if it loses its developer account. This means it would be much harder for companies to build iPhone and Mac games with Unreal Engine.
“By spring 2021, it is likely that Apple will refuse to accept all new apps and updates to existing apps that use the Unreal Engine due to Epic’s inability to access these tools,” Epic Games said in its Monday release. .
This could lead to an exodus of developers looking for another cross-platform tool that supports Apple devices, Epic said.
Indeed, although the Unreal Engine is popular on consoles and PCs, many mobile games use a competing engine, Unity, which is unaffected.
“Unreal is used in some mobile games, but only a small minority. Unity is much more pervasive, so difficult to quantify the impact of the ban,” said Michael Pacter, an analyst at Wedbush.
Apple has not responded to Epic’s latest launch. When it was reached Monday for comment, an Apple spokesman said in a statement issued last week: “Epic enabled a feature in their app that was not reviewed or approved by Apple, and they did so with the express intent to violate the App Store’s guidelines regarding in-app payments that apply to any developer who sells digital goods or services. “
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