Well said.
The situation has kind of knocked the wind out of my sails regarding UE4 to be honest. While I admire and respect what Epic is doing overall, it seems like I have no choice but to either migrate my project to another engine or accept not releasing my app this year. In hindsight I now recognize that choosing UE4 for my Mobile VR Jam entry was kind of a foolish decision as the technical hurdles were too much for me. Now I’m feeling that way about my release project. And at this point, considering that I went all in with UE4 this last year, migrating everything into Unity means pushing my release into next spring, at the least. However at least I will feel some confidence and hope that it actually will be released.
It’s actually a colossal bummer as I really, really love Epic and UE4. But all I keep hearing in my mind is, “the right tool for the right job.” It just feels like UE4 does not really work with Android or mobile VR and that Epic just doesn’t want to let the cat out of the bag. Or maybe there actually is some bad blood between Epic and Oculus (it sure feels that way from the outside looking in), or a partnership happening with HTC/Steam/Sony behind the scenes. Plus the way that Epic handled the community who chose to go forward and submit their entries to the Mobile VR Jam, both towards the end of the contest and afterwards, was just poor form. And surprising, as I genuinely felt like they had our backs for a time there. But in the harsh light of reality, UE4 does not work with nor support the GearVR in any meaningful interpretation of “work with” or support, and hasn’t for many, many months.
And don’t even mention Google Cardboard… I sometimes feel like Epic sees all of these “Mobile VR” topics and just rolls their eyes, hoping to wait it out so that maybe this will all blow over and we will all get the hint and just go away. That’s how it feels to me, anyway.