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Re:Apple removes Fortnite from App Store after Epic attempts... by baddox on Thursday August 13, 2020 @03:33PM (#24147443)
Okay, but imagine that Fortnite used Unreal but wasn’t created by the creators of Unreal. Do you think that Fortnite would be more comfortable playing chicken with the App Store and risking getting banned like this, or playing chicken with the game engine that their entire game is implemented with? In practice I would say a game engine has more leverage over a game developer than a single distribution platform.
Re:Apple removes Fortnite from App Store after Epic attempts... by detaro on Thursday August 13, 2020 @03:54PM (#24147796)
If Unreal were the problem, Fortnite could have chosen a different game engine at the start (this is not about terms changing after all) and it would not affect their options to sell to customers. And while porting would be expensive, it would be possible without loosing access to customers. Nobody doesn't buy a game because they bought an unreal-only PC somewhere.
Re:Apple removes Fortnite from App Store after Epic attempts... by baddox on Thursday August 13, 2020 @06:11PM (#24150161)
> Fortnite could have chosen a different game engine at the start (this is not about terms changing after all)

Right. Apple's terms were clear from the start, so Fortnite had no reasonable expectation to be allowed to violate them. Just like Fortnite could have chosen to use a different game engine if they didn't like the terms of a particular game engine, they could choose to focus on non-Apple platforms (or choose to abide by Apple's terms on Apple's platform) if they don't like Apple's terms. I'm not sure what you're getting at.

Re:Apple removes Fortnite from App Store after Epic attempts... by detaro on Friday August 14, 2020 @04:34AM (#24155371)
> and it would not affect their options to sell to customers [...] it would be possible without loosing access to customers. Nobody doesn't buy a game because they bought an unreal-only PC somewhere.

Which is why the game engine comparison is a bad one.