The contentious lawsuit between Epic Games and Apple continues to move forward, as Epic seeks to have Apple open its iOS "walled garden." Yet today Epic found that it had a surprising ally come forward. Sunday morning Microsoft issued a statement of support for Epic with regards to one specific aspect of the ongoing back and forth. Specifically, Microsoft is standing with Epic about the necessity of the Unreal Engine on iOS after Apple threatened to take away Epic's developer tools on the platform.
Following Epic's decision to introduce a "direct payment" system in Fortnite that bypassed Apple's 30% fee on all digital purchases, Apple not only pulled Fortnite from the App Store but also made a major threat. Apple is threatening to terminate Epic's Apple Developer Program account if Epic doesn't remove the direct payment system from Fortnite. The consequences of this would be far-reaching, as Epic's Unreal Engine is widely used for mobile games and apps. The deadline is August 28.
Epic says the consequences of Apple cutting off its Apple Developer Program account would be "catastrophic." Unreal Engine compatibility on iOS devices would fail in a cascade over time, nevermind lead to the disruption of any number of in-development apps. Epic has filed an injunction in the court system to prevent Apple from acting on its threat. And it's this issue, not anything related to Fortnite or Epic's lawsuit, that Microsoft has made a statement of support of in Epic's favor.
The statement comes from Microsoft general manager of gaming developer experiences Kevin Gammill, though it's been registered as a legal filing in the US District Court's Northern District of California Oakland Division. In the statement, Gammill makes clear that Epic Games' Unreal Engine is "critical technology" for Microsoft and others. The statement's core points is that Apple preventing Unreal Engine updates would "harm game creators and gamers."
Gammill does go into further detail about how exactly the decision will harm game creators and players. It talks about how it would force developers to switch to a different engine, which would lead to "significant sunk costs and lost time." And that could lead to app development cancellations, having to abandon the lucrative Apple platform, or entire studio closures.
The goal of Microsoft's legal statement is to provide support for Epic's injunction. That is, Microsoft wants the court to approve a "temporary restraining order" against Apple to stop it from taking away Epic's Apple Developer Program account. Microsoft doesn't have a high opinion of Apple's "walled garden" platform in the first place, of course. Again, the deadline for when Apple plans to act on its thread is August 28.