For Americans, following European news can feel like trying to follow a soccer game on your neighbor’s TV while in your own living room there are two simultaneous gunfights, a nu-metal concert, and someone revving a pickup truck for no reason. But it’s worth keeping an eye on Europe right now, because in areas like tech and defense, a trend has emerged in which Europeans are just so over our BS, and are moving on—that’s the vibe anyway. Last month, for instance, the French government began a transition from Windows to Linux .

And now, the Dutch co-creator of the legendary 90s game Jazz Jackrabbit has a vision of a Europe unshackled by the Unreal Engine, a load-bearing pillar of the gaming world also used in other media, and he may just have the chops and experience to pull it off.…