After Epic Games’ victory against Google, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney declared that Microsoft was a superior partner for developers. He said they were above Apple and Google when making a good landscape for developers. He said that, unlike Microsoft, Google and Apple treat developers like “adversaries.”
In an interview with The Verge, Sweeney contrasted his work with Microsoft against the adversarial approach taken by Apple and Google. He accused both companies of treating developers as rivals, stifling competition through restrictive app store policies and forced payments.
“Google and Apple both treat developers as adversaries — they try to attack our revenue streams and prevent us from competing with their products. They’ve built these massive self-preferencing schemes all around excluding developers and disadvantaging third-party developers.”
Tim Sweeney
Sweeney believes Microsoft’s philosophy aligns more closely with Epic Games’ own vision of an open and competitive market where developers are empowered to thrive. He pointed to Microsoft’s long history of offering developers fair deals and supporting their success, even during its own antitrust challenges.
We’ve written about how Sweeney thinks the future is bright, but he prefers how Microsoft works with developers. Sweeney talked about how Microsoft was always good to developers, even when they were competing fiercely with other companies. He said that Microsoft treated developers respectfully, gave them fair deals, and considered them partners. He contrasted this with Apple and Google, who he feels have disappointed him by not treating developers as well.
He believes that Microsoft’s approach benefits the entire developer community more, so he’s fighting for open and transparent practices in the industry. The recent Epic Games v. Google lawsuit, which resulted in a landmark victory for Epic, was seen by Sweeney as a major win for developers. He believes the verdict will force Google to open its platform and allow developers greater freedom and control over their apps and revenue.
Comments