XBox maker Microsoft defends Epic Games against Apple’s ‘abuse of power’
Microsoft found the defence of the maker of gaming sensation Fortnite on Sunday, saying in a court filing that Apple’s moves to cut off the business from programming tools would hurt other game creators and players aswell.
Epic Games is locked in a legal battle with Apple after trying to dodge commission payments as a result of tech giant, prompting the iPhone maker to pull Fortnite from its web store.
Apple also threatened to take off Epic’s access to its programming tools needed to maintain “Unreal Engine”, a software platform that was developed by Epic and which can be used by many gaming studios to create graphics.
In a filing to the California court handling the case between Epic and Apple, a Microsoft manager said Unreal Engine “is crucial technology for numerous game creators including Microsoft”.
“Apple’s discontinuation of Epic’s capability to develop and support Unreal Engine for iOS or macOS will harm game creators and gamers,” wrote Kevin Gammill, Microsoft’s general manager of gaming developer experiences.
Apple has alleged that the Fortnite maker deserves to reduce its usage of the programming tools because it violated the conditions of their contract.
At the heart of the fight may be the 30 percent that Apple assumes the revenue generated by companies to distribute their software through its online store.
Epic Games filed a lawsuit against Apple the other day following the tech giant took Fortnite off its App Store for releasing an update that dodges earnings sharing.
The most recent version contains a payment system that lets player transactions bypass the App Store, stopping Cupertino-based Apple from collecting its typical thirty percent cut.
Epic has asked a judge to make Apple put Fortnite back the App Store until the matter of resolved in court.
