Microsoft files statement in support of Epic

Xbox boss Phil Spencer recently announced that Microsoft has filed a statement in support of Epic as the company continues to publicly debate Apple's video game publishing structure.

Spencer made the announcement on Twitter, where he also posted a link to the full statement. You can check out his tweet below.

"Today we filed a statement in support of Epic's request to keep access to the Apple SDK for its Unreal Engine," Spencer wrote. "Ensuring that Epic has access to the latest Apple technology is the right thing for gamer developers & gamers." For those unacquainted with the context here, Apple recently threatened to pull Epic''s dev access to iOS and Mac.

The linked statement goes into more detail, and describes Microsoft's decision to publicly support Epic.

"Epic Games’ Unreal Engine is critical technology for numerous game creators including Microsoft," it reads. It also raises the issue that many independent games studios lack the resources to build their own engines and have to wholly rely on third-party software.

"As a result, Epic’s Unreal Engine is one of the most popular third-party game engines available to game creators, and in Microsoft’s view there are very few other options available for creators to license with as many features and as much functionality as Unreal Engine across multiple platforms, including iOS," the statement says.

"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," it continues.

"Because iOS is a large and growing market for games, Apple’s discontinuation of Unreal Engine’s ability to support iOS will be a material disadvantage for the Unreal Engine in future decisions by Microsoft and other game creators as to the choice of an engine for new games."

"Apple’s discontinuation of Epic’s ability to develop and support Unreal Engine for iOS or macOS will harm game creators and gamers."

You can read the full statement at the link.