[zyang]

Doesn't Unreal charge a "core technology fee"?

[matwood]

Different but yes:

Under the standard EULA, Unreal Engine is free to use for learning, and for developing internal projects; it also enables you to distribute many commercial projects without paying any fees to Epic Games, including custom projects delivered to clients, linear content (such as films and television shows) and any product that earns no revenue or whose revenue falls below the royalty threshold. A 5% royalty is due only if you are distributing an off-the-shelf product that incorporates Unreal Engine code (such as a game) and the lifetime gross revenue from that product exceeds $1 million USD; in this case, the first $1 million remains royalty-exempt.

https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/license

[kevingadd]

They charge royalties, not a per-install fee. If your app is free you wouldn't owe anything, unlike Apple's new system.

[TylerE]

You do not owe royalties to Apple unless your app is either A: non-free or B: on another store.

[belltaco]

Epic/Unreal doesn't also own 50% of the PC hardware market making tens of billions at high margins where only Unreal made Games are allowed and other game engines are banned.

[TylerE]

They're probably over 50% of AAA games. Freakin' everything is Unreal Engine these days.

[matwood]

In the EU, iOS sits ~33% marketshare, ~60% in the US, and ~28% worldwide.

[sdflhasjd]

Yes, but you choose to use Unreal because it's actually good. Meanwhile Apple gives you no choice.

[nerdjon]

So should we expect Epic to give ME, the user a choice of how I want to install Fortnite?

Because they clearly are not. So why do developers get the choice but not the consumer?

Sounds to me the power is still in the wrong hands and consumers loose.

[kemayo]

You do have the choice to not target an Apple platform. There's lots of apps that're exclusive to Android out there.

I don't like this fee model, but let's not pretend Android doesn't exist.

[declaredapple]

> Yes, but you choose to use Unreal because its actually good. Meanwhile Apple gives you no choice.

How did you have no choice, did Apple threaten you or something?

Android is a competent competitor you could choose instead.

[TylerE]

This comparison makes no sense. Unreal is a game engine. Apple is a platform. Are you expecting Apple to open an Android app store or something?