In an extensive interview with CNN Business, Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, says his company spent months preparing its lawsuit against Apple, which is internally called the “Freedom Project.”
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Epic launched a total assault on Apple after it removed Fortnite from the App Store in August after the app implemented a direct payment method for purchases from the app. The App Store policy requires all apps to use their own system for in-app purchases, which gives Apple a 30% commission on all purchases made. Epic’s refusal to comply with the policy caused the application to be kicked off the platform.
Sweeney says in his interview that Epic “spent months” developing and preparing its lawsuit against Apple, which was launched and publicly announced within hours of Fortnite’s withdrawal from the “App Store.”
Internally, Epic calls the lawsuit “Project Freedom,” clearly echoing the idea that the lawsuit seeks to open Apple’s platforms to smaller developers and therefore provide them with “freedom.” While demand is focused on the 30% “App Store” commission policy, Sweeney says it actually boils down to the idea that he believes open platforms are “the key to free markets and the future of the computer science “.
Developers have wondered if the 30% commission is a fair price that developers should return to Apple, as, for example, Epic Games earned $ 1.3 billion with Fortnite purchases in 2020.
PEpic Games had a valuation of $ 17.3 billion at the end of last year, and in the financial realm, Sweeney says Epic has “financial independence” to bring the lawsuit against Apple and Google, in large part thanks to the fact that Epic Games is not a publicly traded company.
When pressured to learn how much Epic was costing his lawsuit against Apple, Sweeney declined to respond, simply saying it consumes “a lot and a lot” of the company’s management time. However, it is clear that with millions of Apple users unable to play Fortnite on their devices, the company is likely to experience some financial struggle, as iOS users have generated more than $ 1.2 billion in revenue. revenue for Epic since it was launched on the platform, according to Sensor. Tower data cited by CNN Business.
Still, though, Sweeney says the fights are worth it for fear that the future of platforms like the “App Store” will be completely dominated by platform owners like Apple and not have other developers.
“[The companies] it will only do this industry by industry and application category by application category until they have swallowed everything that matters. And who will stay? “Sweeney said.” One million independent developers who collectively get a small percentage of the revenue in the app store because these companies are too small to be attractive to steal. ”
Finally, Sweeney addresses the controversial comments he made in November in which he claimed that the fight for civil rights and Epic’s fight for the platform’s “freedom” are similar. The comments provoked widespread reaction, and in response, Sweeney says he believes it is “perfectly healthy” to draw similarities between “vital causes of world history” and the struggle on application platforms.
“The point is, if you really want to change the difference, you have to downgrade the system,” Sweeney said in response to the criticism. “I think we can learn a lot from any of humanity’s past struggles, and I think it’s perfectly healthy to apply vital cause struggles in world history to struggles for smaller issues, such as software platforms.”
More recently, pEpic Games filed a lawsuit against Apple in the UK, alleging that removing Apple’s Fortnite from the ppApp Store was “illegal” and seeking to restore the app. The UK complaint followed in the footsteps of the Epic agreements in the United States and Australia. In all countries, Epic claims it is not claiming damages from Apple and is simply seeking “fair access and competition that will benefit all consumers.” Both companies are preparing to face the courts in July this year.