News Summary

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has publicly criticized Apple and Google, labeling them as ‘gangster-style businesses’ due to their anti-competitive practices. During a Y Combinator event, Sweeney highlighted how these tech giants’ practices negatively affect Epic Games’ business, especially in terms of discouraging users from installing the Epic Games Store. Sweeney pointed out that warnings from Google and Apple about the Epic Games Store being from an ‘unknown source’ lead to a significant drop-off in installation attempts. Despite legal battles, including successful litigation against Google, Epic continues to face challenges with Apple, which has only slightly amended its App Store rules. Sweeney argues that the fees and friction associated with third-party app stores on iOS make it unviable for major game developers to distribute their games through the Epic Games Store. The CEO calls for more vigorous enforcement against such practices by big tech companies.