Epic Games is the developer of the hit Fortnite Credit: Fortnite Principles» CEO of one of the world's largest gaming companies.
Tim Sweeney, chief executive of Epic Games, said the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) would be guilty of a «complete failure of regulation» if it allowed Google to continue to charge high fees to app makers in its download stores. The regulator is facing increasing scrutiny for its approach to tech after blocking a merger between gaming giants Microsoft and Activision.
The two companies opposed the regulator's decision, raising fears that the UK is becoming an unattractive place for tech. business.
Sweeney's warning comes as the CMA prepares to make a decision on an investigation into the Google App Store.
Google and Apple charge developers up to 30% for app purchases and in-app payments, which can be compared with tax online.
Last month, the CMA reported that Google had offered to allow developers to allow alternative payment systems on its Android Play store, but would continue to charge fees up to 27 percent, up from today's 30 percent. The regulator is consulting on proposals, paving the way for eventual adoption.
Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, has been openly critical of the policy Google and Apple on App Stores
Mr Sweeney told The Telegraph: «If the UK supports Google's proposal, it would be a betrayal of the antitrust and regulatory principles that should apply here.»
“If the regulator approves the application for a 27 percent monopoly rent…it is a total failure of regulation.
“It would be a shameful outcome for the whole world. Because it's not about restoring competition, it's about legitimizing what is illegal under antitrust law.»
Epic Games is the developer of Fortnite, one of the most popular games in the world. The company Mr. Sweeney founded in 1991 was valued at $30 billion last year.
Mr. Sweeney has waged a lengthy campaign against the hugely lucrative app stores Apple and Google.
Apple and Google earn billions from commissions charged by their smartphone download stores. Apple does not allow alternatives in its App Store, while Google has been accused of suppressing alternative stores despite technically allowing it.
Epic Games, which also owns games such as Fall Guys and Rocket League, filed a lawsuit. calls to force Apple and Google to cut fees and open up their operating systems to alternative stores.
Fortnite was removed from both tech giants' stores in 2020 after trying to bypass their payment methods. Epic immediately sued both companies separately in the US in a campaign called «Project Liberty». The company failed in the fight against Apple. His case against Google is due in court in November.
However, the reason has been raised by regulators. A recent White House report called the companies' practices «harmful to developers and consumers.» Upcoming EU regulations are expected to force companies to allow alternative app stores to run on their devices.
In the UK, Apple won a lawsuit against a CMA investigation into the App Store, though the regulator said last week it would appeal. Comments on the Google proposal were due by the end of last week, with the final result due later.
Elon Musk accused Apple in levying a «secret 30 percent tax.» about application developers. Photo: AP Photo/Michel Euler
52-year-old Sweeney these days is not only a programmer, but also a lobbyist. He has pushed for regulators around the world to rein in tech giants and insists his case against Apple and Google commissions remains strong.
He said: «The world must change for any tech business to was interesting and valuable in the future, except for Apple and Google. If they are allowed to continue to maintain and expand their monopoly and their connections…then no business other than Apple and Google has a future as the top tier companies in the tech industry anywhere in the world.
“There is so much effort in the world right now that there is hope that at some point one of the regulators will really break through.”
Mr. Sweeney recently enlisted a powerful ally in Elon Musk, who accused Apple of “ secret tax of 30 percent» after the purchase of Twitter and said that the iPhone maker and Google «control access to most of the Internet.» Tim Cook invited Musk to Apple's California headquarters in November, and the Tesla billionaire has been less outspoken ever since.
“Most [app creators] are afraid to talk about it. You have very few who are not,” Mr. Sweeney said. “Elon Musk is going to share his opinion. He is invited to Cupertino to discuss their problems one on one with Tim Cook, I would like more developers to get it.
Mr. Sweeney's frustration with the CMA is particularly strong because the regulator has shown itself to be more determined than others on big tech. His blocking of Microsoft's takeover of Activision came even after EU regulators approved the deal and prompted Microsoft's Brad Smith to say Europe was a better place to start a business than the UK.
Mr Sweeney says, that the deal was «really tricky», but dismisses the idea that a strong regulator is bad for investment, or, as Activision put it, that it shows the UK is «closed for business».
«I think the headline should be 'UK closed for monopolies'. That would be very good and would be great for business. You have very powerful companies that are frustrated with what regulators are regulating,” he says. #39; There is nothing more important that the UK can do to create a bright future for competition and digital markets than to enforce antitrust laws and set an example for the world.”
Mr. Sweeney believes he must continue his battle now because if left unchecked, Apple and Google will slow down the development of the «metaverse,» the 3D online worlds that some technologists see as the future of the Internet.
Fortnite was one of the pioneers of the idea of a virtual world populated by many hundreds if not thousands of people at once.
Interest in the concept has cooled off in recent months, but Mr Sweeney insists it still exists . has a bright future.
Mark Zuckerberg has invested billions in the Metaverse. Photo: AP Photo/Mark Lennihan.
“People understand that a huge number of companies have raised huge amounts of money through fraud. And that market will now be cleared through a process of creative destruction.
«If you look at Fortnite and [other online open world games] Minecraft and Roblox, Pub-G mobile and some of those other apps, you you can find 600 million people doing it every month and having a great time. I remain an optimist.”
In contrast, the online world created by Mark Zuckerberg's Metaverse, considered the Metaverse's most vocal proponent, «isn't a fun place,» Mr. Sweeney said. However, he believes the company's many investments in virtual reality will pay off.
Mr Sweeney's fears that Apple controls the metaverse will be heightened by reports that the company is expected to launch headset. next month.
“I fully support Apple and Google as they create innovative new hardware,” Sweeney said. «They should sell their equipment at a high price and make a big profit on their equipment, but they should be removed from the business of determining how other companies can compete with them.»
Even if he insists that With two tech giants strangling his company, Epic Games did more than Mr. Sweeney could have imagined when he founded the company in his parents' basement 32 years ago. players – complemented by the company's PC download store and its Unreal Engine, a simulation software used by others to create games, and plan film sets and airports. stake in Epic with voting shares giving him a majority stake in the company.
«My life hasn't changed much — I have a faster car,» Mr. Sweeney said. «Most of my fortune is only in the company, not in cabinets full of gold or anything like that.»
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