The legal battle between Epic Games and Apple has just had the stakes raised yet again, as Microsoft’s General Manger for Gaming Developer Experiences, Kevin Gammill, submitted a statement of support for Epic.
In the statement, Gammill outlines the reasons why Apple’s planned revocation of Epic’s iOS developer tool access should be prevented by granting Epic’s request for a temporary restraining order.
As we reported last week, Apple’s move to revoke Epic’s SDK access would have the practical effect of preventing Epic from making any updates to the Unreal Engine, to ensure iOS or MacOS compatibility. Gammill made much the same point in his statement to the court, using the company’s Forza Street title as an example.
“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,” Gammill wrote.
Phil Spencer put out a tweet yesterday morning indicating the filing. “Today we filed a statement in support of Epic’s request to keep access to the Apple SDK for its Unreal Engine. Ensuring that Epic has access to the latest Apple technology is the right thing for gamer developers & gamers.”
The hearing for Epic’s temporary restraining order is scheduled for today. GameLuster will continue to follow this story as it develops and provide updates as they become available.
Food For Thought
The filing Microsoft made is not technically an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief, since the matter hasn’t been decided and brought to an appeals court. Nonetheless, it could very well be used as the basis for an amicus brief should Epic lose the first round, particularly since Microsoft would be able to dissect Apple’s position and be able to cite precedent favorable to Epic.
