Despite Apple Being Ordered To Comply With Court Case Decision, Tim Sweeney Renews Attack On The Tech Giant

A federal judge recently ruled that Apple cannot push back the deadline to update its App Store policies. According to TechCrunch, if this decision had been approved, it could have delayed app store changes “by a matter of years.”

In October, the organization made changes to the App Store’s rules. However, Apple appealed the lawsuit and asked for a stay on the injunction that was put into place by Judge Gonzalez Rogers that would open the App Store to non-Apple payment systems. This meant that Apple had to make policy changes by early December. Apple’s legal counsel did try to argue for a delay, but the judge eventually denied the company’s motion during a November 9th hearing.

Despite this legal victory, Epic Games’ CEO, Tim Sweeney, was not satisfied. In fact, the chief executive renewed his attack on Apple during a November 15th interview at the Global Conference for Mobile Application Ecosystem Fairness in Seoul, South Korea.

“What the world really needs now is a single store that works with all platforms. 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,” Sweeney said. “There’s a store market, there’s a payments market, and there are many other related markets. And it’s critical that antitrust enforcement not allow a monopolist in one market to use their control of that market to impose control over unrelated markets.“

Sweeney also revealed that Epic Games is working with service providers and developers to create a system that allows users “to buy software in one place, knowing that they’d have it on all devices and all platforms.” Epic Games currently offers the Epic Games Store, which charges commission fees.

The Profit‘s Take:

Tim Sweeney is STILL going after Apple even though the verdict clearly indicates he lost this battle. He’s basically saying, “if we don’t have one app store to rule them all, then the metaverse is impossible.” Tim Sweeney is simply WRONG. If we believe the metaverse is something that will come to fruition (which, I think it will), and we believe that the metaverse is essentially a version of reality in the digital world, then it makes sense that there are multiple app stores. In the same way that there are Lowes and Home Depots, App Stores are no different. They are retail storefronts for games. Why would we need only one? We don’t need only one for the metaverse to work. In fact, I would say choice makes the metaverse more interesting. I like the idea of retail, whether it’s physical or digital goods, moving into the metaverse. Tim Sweeney couldn’t be more wrong here. He could not understand this less. He’s a smart guy that has built something really interesting. The problem is, he is totally blinded by his hatred of Apple. This is all emotion and ego at this point. He is no longer helping his cause. “Apple is a monopoly, destroy them… We only need one entry point into the metaverse.” I can drive to my friend’s house in a Honda or a Toyota, it doesn’t matter what the car brand is as long as I get there. Technology is the same way. The metaverse will need some kind of common currency or common technology in order for it to be a true Metaverse with a capital “M”. I don’t think Tim Sweeney truly cares about the Metaverse.

(All information was provided by MacRumors and TechCrunch)