My overly cynical interpretation: All signs point to 'eventually' don't they? Look at the history of everything, it's inevitable. Either you get big enough to become garbage, or you stay small and fade out.
The single exception to this is Bandcamp. <-- evidently I jinxed it. So maybe Bandcamp is not the exception.
Epic wants to nurture creatives, so I strongly doubt they'd try to squeeze it. Especially not before the full plan comes into fruition.
The game plan is this:
1. Draw capital from Fortnite and investments (Tencent, Sony, etc.)
2. Build up creative tools (Unreal Engine, Metahuman), marketplace ecosystems (Bandcamp, ArtStation), and platforms (Epic Games Store) to build the movies and games of tomorrow. Make them more compelling and synergistic than peer competitors.
Tim Sweeney is gambling he can turn anyone creative into a filmmaker or game designer. The long term game is to then take 10-15%.
It'll be interesting to see if Godot develops at a fast enough clip to become compelling to the next generation of game developers and eventually companies that want full IP rights.
It'll also be interesting to see if Adobe and other media companies can stop Epic from eating their Hollywood lunch.
That's great for them to realize their efforts, but unfortunate to hear personally. I really miss their dev blogs. Really cool stuff, with a classic flair.
The single exception to this is Bandcamp. <-- evidently I jinxed it. So maybe Bandcamp is not the exception.