Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has renewed his attack on Apple and Google with a call to produce a single unified app store for both iOS and Android users.
Sweeney’s company Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite and Unreal Engine, has been embroiled in a long, bitter feud with Apple and (to a lesser extent) Google over monopolistic aspects inherent to their respective mobile app stores.
While the big legal case between Epic and Apple wrapped up in May and was decided (in Apple’s favour) in September, Sweeney clearly isn’t done on the topic. He recently gave an interview at the Global Conference for Mobile Application Ecosystem Fairness in South Korea (via Bloomberg), in which he made the case of a single monolithic app store that would incorporate both major mobile platforms, all of the games console storefronts, and more.
“What the world really needs now is a single store that works with all platforms,” Sweeney said. “Right now software ownership is fragmented between the iOS App Store, the Android Google Play marketplace, different stores on Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch, and then Microsoft Store and the Mac App Store.”
Earlier in the day Sweeney had taken another shot at Apple’s restrictive App Store policies, claiming that the company “locks a billion users into one store and payment processor. “Now Apple complies with oppressive foreign laws, which surveil users and deprive them of political rights,” he added, before concluding that “Apple must be stopped.”
Sweeney also criticised Google’s policy of charging fees on Google Play Store payments it doesn’t process, though Google responded that its service fee also covered the costs of offering Android and Google Play for free.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.