Epic CEO decries Apple's App Store 'propaganda' after 10 months of his own

Posted:
in General Discussion
Tim Sweeney, the man behind the "Fortnite" 1984 ad campaign against Apple, claims that corporate propaganda shouldn't be the response to big tech issues.

Epic Games' CEO doesn't believe corporate propaganda is the answer
Epic Games' CEO doesn't believe corporate propaganda is the answer


The Epic Games versus Apple trial may have adjourned, but Tim Sweeney is still complaining about Apple's business practices on Twitter. While a verdict and action plan from the judge is still pending, "Fortnite" continues its existence off of Apple's platforms.

A tweet from Epic CEO Tim Sweeney suggests that corporate propaganda campaigns shouldn't be the solution to a problem, that companies should "just fix it and bear the costs." The statement from Sweeney comes after Apple's pamphlet on privacy and sideloading was released on Wednesday.

I really hope corporate propaganda campaigns don't become a permanent fixture of the tech industry. If a company has a problem, just fix it and bear the costs, and if that takes time to do right then say so.

-- Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic)


The hypocrisy of the statement appears to be lost on Sweeney, who's company ran an expensive, multi-week campaign against Apple before the trial. After breaking Apple's App Store guidelines on purpose, the company sued Apple and released a propaganda video mimicking Apple's "1984" ad that launched the Mac.





After the ad released, "Fortnite" had in-game content advertising the legal opposition against Apple. The entire campaign was run via the hashtag #FreeFortnite to convince players to speak out against Apple's business practices.

"Fortnite" was removed from Apple's platforms, and despite being able to return to the App Store at any time, Tim Sweeney refused to "just fix it and bear the costs." The popular game still isn't available on Apple's platforms which previously earned Apple as much as $100 million.

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 29
    He's either clueless or brilliant.

    Sort of reminds me of an old Cosby line:
    "Fathers are the geniuses of the house because only a person as intelligent as we could fake such stupidity." -Bill Cosby
    jahbladewatto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 29
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,092member
    It's funny reading the twitter comments calling out Sweeney's hypocrisy, and Sweeney trying to save face.  Asshole.
    pichaelwilliamlondonBeatsadaeontmayqwerty52pscooter63jas99magman1979jahblade
  • Reply 3 of 29
    omasouomasou Posts: 562member
    Epic please fire this idiot. So tired of his onside whining and appeal for public support.
    Beatsadaeonjas99magman1979jahbladewatto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 29
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    Man needs to have a serious word with himself. 
    williamlondonBeatstmayjas99magman1979jahbladewatto_cobrajony0
  • Reply 5 of 29
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member
    omasou said:
    Epic please fire this idiot. So tired of his onside whining and appeal for public support.
    He owns 30% of the company, he isn't going anywhere.
  • Reply 6 of 29
    pairof9pairof9 Posts: 74member
    "If gaming (and Fortnite in particular) was the main reason I wanted to purchase a smartphone or a computer, I never would have bought iPhones or Macs." – 1 billion people
    jas99h4y3sjahbladewatto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 29
    BeatsBeats Posts: 3,073member
    What makes him so entitled that when he breaks the rules and gets kicked out just like any developer would that he makes a stupid hashtag and campaign out of it?

    #FreeFortnite, I saw 12 year olds posting that crap like they knew anything about the business.
    adaeonqwerty52uraharajas99magman1979jahbladejony0watto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 29
    Unfortunately, this kind of hypocrisy of accusing someone of something you've done yourself has become the new normal.  We saw it during the recent presidential elections and during the term of "the former guy".  It persists because it requires no originality and also because there's no longer any social stigma attached to lying.  Shrug.
    pscooter63jas99magman1979williamlondonh4y3sjahbladejony0spock1234lkruppdaven
  • Reply 9 of 29
    georgie01georgie01 Posts: 436member
    The biggest shame here is that so many in the population do not see how leaders lying ‘for the greater good’ has become increasingly acceptable. The blatant lying and hypocrisy of politicians such as AOC (and many others, she just seems to be the queen) is simultaneously laughable and depressing, and these people truly believe that it is righteous and justified. There have always been people like that of course, but it’s increased exponentially in recent years.

    There are not many of our leaders (politicians, tech companies, etc.) who value truth. Most believe truth gets in the way of the their agenda, and the population is basically idiots who need the truth sanitised for their own good.

    And it’s a shame that enough of the population has submitted to that mentality where it’s nearly an inescapable reality.
    muthuk_vanalingamwilliamlondonspock1234davenwatto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 29
    am8449am8449 Posts: 392member
    Hypocrisy is always lost on the hypocrite
    magman1979williamlondonforegoneconclusionomasoujahbladedavenwatto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 29
    genovellegenovelle Posts: 1,480member
    crowley said:
    omasou said:
    Epic please fire this idiot. So tired of his onside whining and appeal for public support.
    He owns 30% of the company, he isn't going anywhere.
    China owns 40%
    williamlondon
  • Reply 12 of 29
    magman1979magman1979 Posts: 1,292member
    ROTFLMAO!!!

    Someone hold my beer before I spill it laughing my balls off at this fucking clown!!!
    williamlondonspock1234watto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 29
    I'm all for #FreeFortnite. Give me unlimited free v-bucks! Everything should be free on Fortnite. 
    williamlondonforegoneconclusionspock1234davenwatto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 29
    I’m very proud of the fact that several tweets of mine in response to tweets by the Coalition for App Fairness resulted in responses from Sweeney himself. In each case he eventually left the discussion. It’s funny when a billionaire feels threatened by some nobody on Twitter with only 20 followers.
    williamlondonmikeybabesbeowulfschmidttmaygenovellespock1234watto_cobra
  • Reply 15 of 29
    “Swiney” is an epic ass… I wouldn’t trust Epic games with my payments… especially if it is a subscription buried in layers of foo to end or pause it. One place to find my subscriptions… it’s called the App Store. 
    williamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 16 of 29
    docno42docno42 Posts: 3,755member
    Sweeny is indeed an Epic ass (nice!).  He is also mostly correct.  I was listening to the guys on the Apple Insider podcast talk about this and it suddenly dawned on me - the core issue here is trust - or a lack of.  

    Apple treats every developer as if they are hostile.

    Seriously?  Rouge Amoeba, who has been a Mac developer for decades, can't be trusted with private API access?  

    Apple are a bunch of cowards hiding behind policy - that they created!  Why does everyone have to be treated the same?  Answer: they don't.  But it's far easier to treat everyone the same.  No critical thought required - just numbly point to the policy, claim your hands are tied and then conveniently ignore the fact that you made the policy that is tying your hands in the first place. 

    What's even worse - they can't even do that correctly!  They don't even enforce their overly simplistic policy consistently.

    They can't even hid behind crying poverty (lack of resources) - they have the largest market cap!  

    So what's the issue?  They don't care.  I long thought Marco Arment was going overboard with his thoughts on Apple abusing developers - but the more I critically analyze this whole thing and get below the superficial arguments, it becomes more and more apparent that Apple does indeed developers as an annoyance and something they have to begrudgingly deal with - rather than a group they value and respect.

    You don't blatantly abuse those you value and respect.  And for that reason alone Apple should be forced to offer some sort of choice for side loading.  Let it be manageable via MDM for the edge cases like employee phones (already a thing on Android - just try rooting your company phone and see how long you have a job) or parents with kids.  

    This bizarre argument that more choice is less choice is utterly incomprehensible.  If you want to enjoy the totally locked down ecosystem, how does someone else having the choice to side load impact you?  What's that?  Your favorite app may defect to one of the alternate stores/methods?  Hmm - guess Apple should up their game so that their offering makes so much sense it would be crazy to even contemplate going down a different path, no?   

    I was strongly in the stance that Apple should be able to run their platform as they see fit - but after a decade of watching them continually bungle the handling of the app store and developer relations and get away with it through sheer momentum enough is enough.  Turns out there is no such thing as a benevolent dictator :tongue: 
    williamlondondaven
  • Reply 17 of 29
    omasouomasou Posts: 562member
    crowley said:
    omasou said:
    Epic please fire this idiot. So tired of his onside whining and appeal for public support.
    He owns 30% of the company, he isn't going anywhere.
    30% isn't 51%
    williamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 18 of 29
    genovellegenovelle Posts: 1,480member
    docno42 said:
    Sweeny is indeed an Epic ass (nice!).  He is also mostly correct.  I was listening to the guys on the Apple Insider podcast talk about this and it suddenly dawned on me - the core issue here is trust - or a lack of.  

    Apple treats every developer as if they are hostile.

    Seriously?  Rouge Amoeba, who has been a Mac developer for decades, can't be trusted with private API access?  

    Apple are a bunch of cowards hiding behind policy - that they created!  Why does everyone have to be treated the same?  Answer: they don't.  But it's far easier to treat everyone the same.  No critical thought required - just numbly point to the policy, claim your hands are tied and then conveniently ignore the fact that you made the policy that is tying your hands in the first place. 

    What's even worse - they can't even do that correctly!  They don't even enforce their overly simplistic policy consistently.

    They can't even hid behind crying poverty (lack of resources) - they have the largest market cap!  

    So what's the issue?  They don't care.  I long thought Marco Arment was going overboard with his thoughts on Apple abusing developers - but the more I critically analyze this whole thing and get below the superficial arguments, it becomes more and more apparent that Apple does indeed developers as an annoyance and something they have to begrudgingly deal with - rather than a group they value and respect.

    You don't blatantly abuse those you value and respect.  And for that reason alone Apple should be forced to offer some sort of choice for side loading.  Let it be manageable via MDM for the edge cases like employee phones (already a thing on Android - just try rooting your company phone and see how long you have a job) or parents with kids.  

    This bizarre argument that more choice is less choice is utterly incomprehensible.  If you want to enjoy the totally locked down ecosystem, how does someone else having the choice to side load impact you?  What's that?  Your favorite app may defect to one of the alternate stores/methods?  Hmm - guess Apple should up their game so that their offering makes so much sense it would be crazy to even contemplate going down a different path, no?   

    I was strongly in the stance that Apple should be able to run their platform as they see fit - but after a decade of watching them continually bungle the handling of the app store and developer relations and get away with it through sheer momentum enough is enough.  Turns out there is no such thing as a benevolent dictator :tongue: 
    It simply is their store and they don’t have to invest in it at all. They can do like Microsoft and throw up their hands and let it die on the vine. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 19 of 29
    CheeseFreezeCheeseFreeze Posts: 1,247member
    I’m reading this on mobile so this might be hidden, but overall I would suggest to mark a news item as OPINION PIECE or NEWS to separate it from objective news.
    williamlondon
  • Reply 20 of 29
    CheeseFreezeCheeseFreeze Posts: 1,247member
    “Swiney” is an epic ass… I wouldn’t trust Epic games with my payments… especially if it is a subscription buried in layers of foo to end or pause it. One place to find my subscriptions… it’s called the App Store. 
    And this is based on what information and experience? 
    williamlondon
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