Epic's new motion claims Apple's holding Unreal Engine hostage

Embed from Getty Images 

Epic's new filing issued on Sunday alleges Apple is holding an entire ecosystem of game developers hostage with its response of threatening to revoke Epic's developer access. The game developer has asked the court to restrain Apple from revoking said access while the lawsuit is ongoing. Apple's response to the request claims it's enforcing previously stated policies without denying that iOS support was at risk.

Epic says getting its access revoked is unnecessarily punitive as it affects developers who built on Epic's Unreal Engine, even if they weren't directly involved in the case. "The breadth of Apple's retaliation is itself an unlawful effort to maintain its monopoly and chill any action by others who might dare oppose Apple," the motion reads.

Microsoft shares its support for Epic's motion in a new declaration, emphasizing the harmful impact of revoking Epic's access. Developers using the engine won't be able to fix bugs and other security flaws without Epic's access to developer tools, thus halting support for a wide range of games. Microsoft's Forza uses the Unreal Engine.

"Denying Epic access to Apple's SDK and other development tools will prevent Epic from supporting Unreal Engine on iOS and macOS and will place Unreal Engine and those game creators that have built, are building, and may build games on it at a substantial disadvantage," said Kevin Gammill, Microsoft's general manager for third-party developers on the Xbox.

Source: The Verge