Apple Has 'Lost Sight of the Tech Industry's Founding Principles,' Says Epic Games CEO

[MacRumors]

Following Apple's countersuit on Tuesday, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has now responded to Apple's new request for damages for breach of contract.

Sweeney says that Apple's claim that the legal dispute is "nothing more than a basic disagreement over money" is an indication that it has "lost sight of the tech industry's founding principles," although he does not explicitly state what these founding principles are. He also assumes that Apple is "posturing for the court."

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1303734154845192198

Sweeney went on to refer to Epic's "Nineteen Eighty-Fortnite" commercial, explaining that it was intended to show that Apple was now the "all-powerful corporation dictating the terms of users' access to their devices," displacing IBM, and that it is "using that position to exert control and extract money."

He then reiterated some of the rationale behind why Epic Games began the campaign against Apple's App Store policies, stating that "creators have rights." Sweeney concluded by strongly disputing that the entire disagreement was about money, instead saying it is a more fundamental fight for change.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1303736972607918084

Epic Games' developer account has now been terminated, and the company has filed for a preliminary injunction that would both allow Fortnite back on the App Store and restore access to its developer account. At the same time, Epic Games has refused to remove the direct payment option that is in direct violation of Apple's ‌App Store‌ policies‌. The preliminary injunction hearing will take place at the end of this month.

Article Link: Apple Has 'Lost Sight of the Tech Industry's Founding Principles,' Says Epic Games CEO

 

[t76turbo]

Epic is a spoiled brat..... Glad I dont play fortnite anymore.

 

[fokmik]

When you cant say anything constructive and logical , you start a fight, and bashing like a child
Its clear Epic CEO is mad/angry....its a MAAAD WORLD THERE AT EPIC

 

[Anson_431]

Epic: We are fighting for change!

Also Epic: *Remains silent towards that same 30% charge on consoles*

oops lol

 

[I7guy]

I think Epic should look in the mirror and see who is "losing sight and of what."

And sure Apple should let them back into the app store and restore their account...after they remove the theft of revenue from the app and apologize...

 

[metalsiren]

what such bull **** Epic, its over Money that you want. you want to be able to sell a product at Walmart and for Walmart to get no money from it. or even worse setup your OWN shop in a Walmart and they get nothing for it

 

[ruka.snow]

Epic are going to fight until they can expand their toxic game store to iOS. Probably poach as many games as they can from the AppStore with exclusive deals and leave those that bought them or preordered high and dry once again as they have done with many games on Steam. Anno 1802 being one of them.

 

[techno-Zen]

EPIC is being greedy as hell in this.

 

[Kleber20]

I would love to get paid just by tweeting angry things at Apple just like this guy

 

[Z400Racer37]

Hilarious. Now he's posturing as the noble savior of us all by trying to "solve" a "problem" which doesn't exist. Man he doesn't know when to shut up. What a baby.

 

[breather]

Epic is greed personified.

 

[sully54]

This has literally always been about money. Epic didn’t want to pay Apple’s 30% fee, then sued for having to pay the fee. They can do whatever they feel is right, but stop with the virtue signaling.

 

[Juan007]

This is Adobe vs Apple all over again. Apple is standing up for customers and saying NO to the crap Epic is trying to shovel, just like they did to Adobe with Flash. It was the right decision then and it's the right decision now. Find another way to make money that doesn't involve ripping off customers with phony in-game currency Epic, if you can't figure that out then you don't deserve to be in business.

Good to see that Tim has the same moral compass that Steve had. ALWAYS stand up for the customer, even when it's hard, even when a billion dollar bully wants to pillage your user base.

 

[AngerDanger]

Apple Has 'Lost Sight of the Tech Industry's Founding Principles,' Says Epic Games CEO

He's got a point. The tech industry was founded on the principle that Epic is entitled to be on Apple's app store for free and not incur fees for subscriptions made on that platform, despite having to pay similar fees on every other platform.

Sure, we all balked and wondered what the hell an "app store," "Epic," and "Fortnite" was back in the '70s, but they all turned out to be incredibly relevant.

 

[andosDK]

Seems like the equivalent of moving into an apartment right above a night-club and then afterwards complaining about the noise.

 

[nattK]

Oh boo hoo. If this really wasn't "disagreement over money," then why was Epic charging $7.99 (only 20% less than App Store) directly rather than $6.99 (30%) for 1,000 V-bucks? Why are customers still being up charged $1 when all the money is still going to Epic anyway?

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Bunch of crying babies

 

[polaris20]

If Epic did this whole stunt immediately, before getting Fortnite onto iOS, that'd be one thing. But getting on there, racking in millions for months, then throwing a tantrum? They're just in it for the money. They don't care about end-users at all.

 

[iPrabhu]

'basic disagreement over money' - Exactly. That's precisely one in stable mind, would think. Why would EPIC wants to use all the infra/tech offered by Apple and conveniently not pay for using it and be a crybaby now?

 

[kazmac]

?
Psst, Epic: Point a finger, three are pointing back at you.

 

[GizmoDVD]

Epic literally sells in game dances for $9.
Tim Epic is going to lose bad and be terminated

 

[cnharris]

 

[dvanwinkle]

I'm confused. Epic and other app creators have rights but Apple and OS creators don't?

 

[Queen6]

Epic Games Has "Lost Sight of the Gaming Industry's Founding Principles", Says the hundreds of thousands of gamers who actively avoid Epic Games and their abusive greed...

Q-6

 

[buckyballs]

I find it interesting that people appear to disparage Epic for wanting their own App Store. Of course they do. Competition is healthy.

What's good for Epic here is also good for the consumer - look at the PC gaming space.

Secondly, this isn't the same as consoles. A console is limited and specific hardware, whereas phones are general computing devices and central to daily life in the modern era.

You could cope fine. without an Xbox, but would struggle without a phone