7 Times The Gaming Industry Gave In To Anger

While the Apple Vs. Epic Games lawsuit only kicked off in August of this year, the bitter and quite snide actions of both parties have already had far-reaching consequences. While at its heart this is a tale of gaming industry greed, the retaliations between the pair have been motivated by anger.

It all began with Epic Games trying to cut Apple out of its 30% cut that it received for microtransactions purchased on its platform, which is according to sources, the blanket amount any developer must cough up. Epic Games, clearly not satiated by the millions Fortnite rakes in each month, wanted to introduce a new marketplace feature that would see them keep all the profit.

Apple responded quickly and brutally, axing Fortnite from the Apple Store and effectively telling Epic Games to "play ball or have it burst". This, to any other company, would have been enough to fall back in line. However, Epic Games instead took to social media to decry Apple's greed (while masking their own). The developer used its loyal fanbase and a clever propaganda video to make Apple look like the villain of the piece, stating that it wanted a monopoly over microtransactions and that the time for revolution was now. FREEDOM MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS.

Sorry, it's hard not to get caught up in this.

However, Apple, the monolith that it is, has been unswayed by these attempts and has lashed out in a particularly spiteful way that has seen others not even involved in the argument punished. On 23 August, Apple announced it would no longer be supporting the Unreal Engine, meaning that devs who used this were now locked out of support and tool updates. This is disastrous as it could lead to security breaches that can't be fixed on other mobile games, and it was a move only done to weaken Epic Games' support from the community.

It's like watching a war unfold, where greed is at its core, but anger and contempt are its actions.