Fortnite Row: Epic CEO Tim Sweeney Blasts Apple, Calls for Single App Store

Tim Sweeney, the CEO of Epic Games, repeated his assault on Apple and Alphabet's Google as the world's dominating mobile duopoly, before proposing a universal app store that works across all operating systems as a solution. In a Tuesday interview in Seoul, Sweeney said, "What the world truly needs now is a single store that works with all platforms." "Right present, software ownership is dispersed over the iOS App Store, the Android Google Play marketplace, various Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch storefronts, as well as the Microsoft Store and the Mac App Store."

Epic is collaborating with developers and service providers to design a system that would allow consumers to "purchase software once and have it on all devices and platforms." Sweeney expressed his displeasure with the current state of smartphone software earlier in the day during remarks at the Global Conference for Mobile Application Ecosystem Fairness in South Korea, which has the world's first law requiring mobile platforms to provide users with a choice of payment handlers. Fortnite, his company's battle royale game, has been embroiled in a nasty legal battle with Apple and Google about income splits on their platforms. He claims that Apple "locked a billion consumers into one shop and payment processor." "Now Apple is in compliance with harsh foreign laws that monitor users and deny them political rights.