Over the last few weeks, we’ve all been watching as one publisher after another, from Blizzard to Bethsoft, yanked its games off of Nvidia’s GeForce Now’s cloud streaming platform, which essentially allows gamers to use their Steam and Epic games on Nvidia’s platform. Now Epic Games is swooping in to save the day – or at least to pick a side in the approaching war.
“Epic is wholeheartedly supporting NVIDIA’s GeForce NOW service with Fortnite and with Epic Games Store titles that choose to participate (including exclusives), and we’ll be improving the integration over time,” Epic’s Tim Sweeney announced on Twitter this past weekend. “It’s the most developer-friendly and publisher-friendly of the major streaming services, with zero tax on game revenue. Game companies who want to move the game industry towards a healthier state for everyone should be supporting this kind of service!”
Sweeney goes on to argue that cloud streaming services like Nvidia’s are “key players in ending the iOS and Google Play payment monopolies and their 30% taxes.” He expressly attacks iOS’ policy of refusing equivalent cloud services as “megalomaniacal.”
“Just waiting till later this year when Google is lobbying against Apple for blocking Stadia from iOS, while Google blocks GeForce NOW, xCloud, and Fortnite from Google Play, and this whole rotten structure begins collapsing in on itself.”
Epic is wholeheartedly supporting NVIDIA’s GeForce NOW service with Fortnite and with Epic Games Store titles that choose to participate (including exclusives), and we’ll be improving the integration over time.
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) March 7, 2020