Epic's Tim Sweeney to speak in South Korea amid app store troubles

AppleInsider

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney is scheduled to appear at a conference in South Korea next week, where he and other critics of Apple's App Store policies will discuss fairness in mobile app ecosystems.

The Coalition for App Fairness on Wednesday announced details of its upcoming Global Conference on Mobile App Ecosystem Fairness, set to take place on Nov. 15 and 16.

Sweeney will join CAF Executive Director Meghan DiMuzio, Match Group SVP Mark Buse, French Secretary of State for Digital Transition Cedric O for a round of talks and ensuing Q&A sessions with members of the media. Match Group CEO Shar Dubey and "other leaders" will take part in the event virtually.

Topics of discussion were not announced, but app stores will likely be a central focus as the group has voiced criticism of Apple and Google's handling of their respective online marketplaces. Epic, for example, is waging legal battles with both companies over in-app purchases, third-party app stores and other issues.

CAF was formed by Basecamp, Blix, Blockchain.com, Deezer, Epic Games, the European Publishers Council, Match Group, News Media Europe, Prepear, Protonmail, Skydemon, Spotify and Tile to "protect consumer choice, foster competition, and create a level playing field for all app and game developers globally."

The conference will take place in the wake of the passage of a South Korean law that requires app store operators to accept third-party payment systems. An amendment to the country's Telecommunications Business Act, the legislation bans Apple and Google from forcing developers to utilize first-party payment systems for in-app purchases. Additionally, the amendment places prohibitions on app store rules that dissuade developers from marketing their wares on other platforms.

The Korea Communications Commission, which is tasked with enforcing the law, asked Apple and Google to hand in compliance plans by October. As Reuters reports, Google submitted a proposal last week, but Apple is believed to be putting up resistance.

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magman1979

This piece of human excrement needs to just go away, permanently

mcdave

Whilst I get legislation protecting consumers from corporate abuse, this has nothing to do with that. There is no actual consumer benefit in these ‘open’ systems. To transfer payment systems control from the product manufacturer to one of its suppliers deliver’s no consumer benefit and introduces huge risk whether the user is aware or no.

The illusion of control in the form of choice has always been used to exploit the naive but this is gross negligence on the part of the SK Government.

edited November 2021

anilu_777

Well I see a list of apps and vendors I’m not going to be using. Here come AirTags and here go Tiles. There are many games out there who don’t want to bite the hand that feeds them. I hope Apple never lets Epic back on the App Store. Let them twist in the wind, the arrogant sod!

ikir

He is a clown

rotateleftbyte

ikir said:

He is a clown

A clown who likes to stir things up because he has nothing better to do... like run his company.

To me, he and his ilk are epic failures but then I'm not that into gaming. I'd rather watch paint dry than play the likes of Fortnite, GTA, and the rest. They have never appealed to me in the slightest.

darelrex

Maybe Sweeney should speak about how his own Epic Games store is unfair because we can't all put games in it for free and get 100% of the money with Sweeney's Epic getting 0%. That would be fair; then Sweeney wouldn't have a monopoly over Epic Games, and there would be competition.

edited November 2021

beats

He’s richer than Tim Cook. I feel so bad for this millionaire(billionaire?) and how bad Apple is treating him!

Now he has a coalition of other millionaires who are also being treating mean by bad Apple. They are really fighting for the little guy!! No, really!!

urahara

He should speak in North Korea. 
And just stay there…

geekmee

He is going to South Korea to reload…
after inserting foot in mouth.

williamlondon

A nice big list of companies to boycott in that group, thanks Dickwad Sweeney.

ericthehalfbee

I love pointing out that CAF only has a small number of companies who’ve signed up (I think less than 60). Out of the hundreds of thousands of developers, that’s pathetic.

Also laughing that I still get a rise out of Sweeney on Twitter. He’s stopped responding to posts, but I often see him like a post that responded to one of mine.

A billionaire wasting time responding to a Twitter user like me with 50 followers just because I say something he doesn’t like. Priceless.

ravnorodom

South Korea is big for eSport and pretty much many games use EPIC's Unreal rendering engine for the tournaments and also high-price reward from EPIC for the winner. Interesting to see if South Korea really gives a crap or not.

lkrupp

magman1979 said:

This piece of human excrement needs to just go away, permanently

Fake Steve Jobs would have sent Moshe to take care of it.

edited November 2021

lkrupp

Another Fake Steve quote:

"First of all, it’s my store, and I’ll sell what I want, and I will not sell what I don’t want to sell. That’s my definition of freedom — I’m free to do whatever the hell I want with my store."