Hacker News Reader

Epic used to charge insane fees for the Unreal Engine too.

They really only changed their tune when Fortnite became so successful they could print money via skins.

You don't have to use Unreal Engine, there are many others and you can write your own. Distribution to apple devices requires using apple's store, which is really the core issue here. If IBM/Intel/MS could pull this off in the 80s we'd still live in a stone age.

You don’t have to distribute to Apple devices, there are many others and you can make your own.

Help me understand how this is different?

apple is gatekeeping billions of users. unreal engine is not.

You can achieve the result of making an FPS game without Unreal Engine. You can't achieve the result of offering your product to about half US phone users without apple store.

You're making shit up. Unreal was at the same 5% years before fortnite. albeit with a lower kick in threshold

They changed to the low fee in order to stop Unity, around 2015.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com