Epic's Tim Sweeney calls Google 'crazy,' says 'Apple must be stopped'

Posted:
in General Discussion
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has used his speech at a South Korea conference to lambast both Apple and Google, plus promote his plan for one app store for all devices.

Credit: Epic Games
Credit: Epic Games


The Coalition for App Fairness's Global Conference on Mobile App Ecosystem Fairness is taking place in South Korea. Tim Sweeney has been speaking at the conference, and also talking to local press.

According to Bloomberg, Sweeney says he is working with developers and unspecified service providers to make an app store that would mean users could "buy software in one place, knowing that they'd have it on all devices and all platforms."

"Apple locks a billion users into one store and payment processor," he said. "Now Apple complies with oppressive foreign laws, which surveil users and deprive them of political rights. But Apple is ignoring laws passed by Korea's democracy. Apple must be stopped."

Calling Google "crazy" for its system of fees, Sweeney praised South Korea for its new App Store law.

"I'm very proud to stand up against these monopolies with you," he said. "I'm proud to stand with you and say I'm a Korean."

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 59
    If he sell his game at cost or make his game open source, then he is a good guy. 

    But he is not. He is just a cheap jerk. 
    edited November 2021 qwerty52Beatsaderuttermagman1979bshankurahararadarthekatbaconstangboltsfan17watto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 59
    xbitxbit Posts: 399member
    Tim Sweeney, who made his fortune ripping off the work of an indie developer and who continues to rip off the work of indie developers, has no place in a true App Fairness Coalition. The man is a hypocrite.
    edited November 2021 qwerty52ionicletechconcretrogustogregoriusmBeatschaickaaderuttermagman1979adaeon
  • Reply 3 of 59
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member
    Being able to buy an app once and have the purchase be valid across platforms does have an appeal.
    blastdoorelijahg
  • Reply 4 of 59
    AppleInsider said: 
    According to BloombergSweeney sayshe is working with developers and unspecified service providers to make an app store that would mean users could "buy software in one place, knowing that they'd have it on all devices and all platforms."

    Does Sweeney realize that, in order to do that, he has to create an own hardware platform first? Or maybe he thinks that Apple is a charity company?

    And does he realizes that Epic has also monopoly in its own game business?

    What's wrong then with Apple’s monopoly in its own Appp Store?

    He is indeed a cheap jerk. 

    retrogustochaickamagman1979williamlondonstevenozbaconstangrobabamaximarawatto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 59
    “His plan for one App Store for all devices” Hmm…I thought he was AGAINST monopolistic behavior? This guys a quack. I bet he was that kid that wanted to end the game or change the rules as soon as he started losing. What a weasel. 
    magman1979roundaboutnowbaconstangmaximarawatto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 59
    Ah...now we start to see his bigger play...he wants to start his own cross platform app store and collect his pound of flesh from developers instead of Apple or Google.

    How transparent can this guy be and how simple can his customers be?
    ioniclegeorgie01Beatschaickaaderuttermagman1979stompywilliamlondonstevenozbaconstang
  • Reply 7 of 59
    It’s the typical ploy for power. “This person/organisation is bad. Turn away from them and come to me.” When all they’re offering is their own version of what they’re criticising—too much power. Sounds exactly like the current administration in the US…

    I’m not saying Apple doesn’t make bad choices at times, but it’s clear they are usually trying to control the user experience rather than just wanting power. I’d rather take my chances with them than Epic. Sweeney sounds like he just wants power. 
    edited November 2021 techconcchaickaaderuttermagman1979williamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 59
    blastdoorblastdoor Posts: 3,580member
    “His plan for one App Store for all devices” Hmm…I thought he was AGAINST monopolistic behavior? This guys a quack. I bet he was that kid that wanted to end the game or change the rules as soon as he started losing. What a weasel. 
    Presumably the one App Store to rule them all isn't a monopoly if a great guy like him is running it :wink: 
    aderutterstompyviclauyycwatto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 59
    Lol billioniare game dude "oppressed" by trillionaire company. I'm crying.
    foregoneconclusionretrogustotzx4magman1979stompyviclauyycwatto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 59
    blastdoorblastdoor Posts: 3,580member
    crowley said:
    Being able to buy an app once and have the purchase be valid across platforms does have an appeal.
    Free stuff is always appealing. But porting apps across platforms has cost -- who pays that cost? One way or another, the cost would ultimately be paid by all consumers. Consumers who use apps on a lot of different platforms would benefit, consumers who use only one platform would be hurt. So this idea is basically just a plan to transfer wealth from people who use one platform to people who use multiple platforms. As somebody who only buys apps for Apple platforms (though I do use open source apps on Linux), I do not approve of this plan. 
    retrogustogenovellewilliamlondonbaconstangmaximarawatto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 59
    Let’s bring this to a more traditional brick and mortar store concept.
    The logic of this guy is that he wants to have is products on sale at a Walmart or a Target but doesn’t want to pay any fee to be there, and even more absurd, he thinks he has the legitimate right to directly sell its products to Walmart customers and use its own payment system inside Walmart, without paying a cent to the retailer.
    Yeah! I guess that makes sense in Sweeney’s surrealist world.
    If he doesn’t want to pay a fee to Apple or Google he can simply build its own OS and hardware devices to run them, or simply do what many companies did… promote its services outside of the Apple and Google store. Have customers visit Epic’s website and create an Epic account if they wish. Pay directly to Epic and just log-in on the Epic game installed in an iOS or Android device. I did this for numerous services that I subscribe and it works.

    gregoriusmBeatsmagman1979viclauyycradarthekatbaconstangwatto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 59
    davidwdavidw Posts: 2,116member
    "The Coalition for App Fairness's Global Conference on Mobile App Ecosystem Fairness" ........ 

    The conference is nothing but a clusterfuck whose attendees are hoping will end in the mother of all 
    circle jerk. The type of ending that will surely make Sweeney happy.   ;)
    Beatsmagman1979viclauyycbaconstangwatto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 59
    genovellegenovelle Posts: 1,481member
    Wcitizen said:
    Let’s bring this to a more traditional brick and mortar store concept.
    The logic of this guy is that he wants to have is products on sale at a Walmart or a Target but doesn’t want to pay any fee to be there, and even more absurd, he thinks he has the legitimate right to directly sell its products to Walmart customers and use its own payment system inside Walmart, without paying a cent to the retailer.
    Yeah! I guess that makes sense in Sweeney’s surrealist world.
    If he doesn’t want to pay a fee to Apple or Google he can simply build its own OS and hardware devices to run them, or simply do what many companies did… promote its services outside of the Apple and Google store. Have customers visit Epic’s website and create an Epic account if they wish. Pay directly to Epic and just log-in on the Epic game installed in an iOS or Android device. I did this for numerous services that I subscribe and it works.

    The problem is he wants to use Apple’s advanced APIs to develop his games for free. Services like Netflix are only streaming into the app using their own platform to store and process the environment. If his server was doing the heavy lifting then he could make his store. Apple does not have to make these APIs available anymore than Epic make their code available to Arcade so Apple can make games and not pay them a cent. 
    radarthekatwatto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 59
    BeatsBeats Posts: 3,073member
    viclauyyc said:
    If he sell his game at cost or make his game open source, then he is a good guy. 

    But he is not. He is just a cheap jerk. 

    He’s richer than Tim Cook and is CEO of one of the biggest game companies in the world. His parent company IS the biggest game developer in the world.
    qwerty52baconstang
  • Reply 15 of 59
    stukestuke Posts: 123member
    Beats said:
    viclauyyc said:
    If he sell his game at cost or make his game open source, then he is a good guy. 

    But he is not. He is just a cheap jerk. 

    He’s richer than Tim Cook and is CEO of one of the biggest game companies in the world. His parent company IS the biggest game developer in the world.
    And this means what?  He should now control the payment system(s) for all apps in the world, platform agnostically?  I'm sure Tim is quaking in his shoes at this piece of non-relevance.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 16 of 59
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    This is a standard tactic:
    When you have no logical, reasonable case or argument then fall back on demonizing and smearing your opponent.

    It's a popular trick favored by politicians, ideologues and radicals.

    There are many ways to approach it but a well known one is to scream:   I N F I D E L ! ! !
    ...  That way you don't have to defend your position.  The opponent has been demonized and must try to prove that they are not evil -- which avoids any intelligent discussion of the real issue.
    qwerty52radarthekatapplguybaconstangwatto_cobra
  • Reply 17 of 59
    So he complains about Apple and Google "locking" people into their ecosystem, but at the same time he's calling for a single app store across all platforms, and he wants people to be locked into that app store. Which is his app store. Got it.
    baconstangwatto_cobra
  • Reply 18 of 59
    Does any MDM solution (including Apple’s own MDM) has ability to block apps from specific developer?

    I have been looking at way to block on devices managed under MDM that I am managing.
    jimh2watto_cobra
  • Reply 19 of 59
    Does he even think about what he says before he says it?

    FTA: According to BloombergSweeney says he is working with developers and unspecified service providers to make an app store that would mean users could "buy software in one place, knowing that they'd have it on all devices and all platforms."

    This means that all platforms - Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo, iOS, macOS, tvOS, Android, Tizen, etc. - would have to support the same APIs in the same way for every app to function in the same way. This is possible but it would mean every platform would be pretty much the same. Alternatively, he's working on something like Flash or Java, neither of which would be a great user experience on a mobile device. Innovation would suck as every company making hardware is stuck with certain requirements.

    Besides, Apple are already doing this on their own platforms. Buy once, use everywhere, and you can even share your purchases.

    Sweeney's idea won't work. Companies want to innovate to differentiate themselves from others. Sweeney looks like the sort of person who only cares about the money not the customer.
    stevenozradarthekatbaconstangwatto_cobra
  • Reply 20 of 59
    davidwdavidw Posts: 2,116member

    .........

    According to Bloomberg, Sweeney says he is working with developers and unspecified service providers to make an app store that would mean users could "buy software in one place, knowing that they'd have it on all devices and all platforms."


    This coming from a guy that loses millions running his Epic Game Store because of this ........

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeseq/2021/11/01/waste-not/?sh=6c436010759f

    https://www.businessinsider.com/epic-games-store-situation-2019-4

    from the article .....

    More meaningfully, if you're an indie developer interested in bringing your game to the Epic Games Store and to Steam, Epic won't allow that. The concept, known as "simship" or "simulatenous shipping," isn't allowed by Epic for smaller games. The game either goes to Steam, or it goes to Epic Game Store, but Epic won't allow for both.

    He would be more convincing if he were to stop paying game developers for exclusive deals for his Epic Game Store, that prevents other platforms and stores from having access to those exclusive Epic Game Store games and try to run his Epic Game Store more like the app store where one could ...... "buy software in one place, knowing that they'd have it on all devices and all platforms." But being the hypocrite  he is, I doubt either will ever happen.   
    TRAGadaeonradarthekatwatto_cobra
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