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APPLE IS HOLDING THE UNREAL ENGINE HOSTAGE, EPIC SAYS IN LAW SUIT

Apple is intimidating an entire system of game developers in response to the Fortnite lawsuit, Epic reportedly said in a new filing on Sunday (August 23).

The lawsuit revolves around iOS support for the Unreal Engine, which Apple has bullied to revoke as part of Epic’s broader loss of developer privileges. Epic has requested the court to restrain Apple from revoking that access while the case is ongoing. Apple replied to the request on Friday, stating that it was enforcing previously mentioned policies, but no denying that iOS support was at risk.

Epic notes that removing support would be unnecessarily punitive, affecting developers who have built on Epic’s engine but have no direct interest 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.

The filing came with a new announcement from Microsoft in support of Epic’s motion, highlighting how detrimental revoking Epic’s access to Apple’s developer tools would be. Any developer using the engine would be unable to patch security flaws or fix bugs once the access was revoked, effectively ending support for a wide range of games including Microsoft’s Forza.

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