Epic CEO Continues MS Uproar, Says Nobody Wants to Build Win Apps
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney still opposes Microsoft’s Universal Windows PlatformMicrosoft wants to unify its desktop, mobile and game platforms through the Universal Windows Platform (UWP). At the recent Microsoft Build conference, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and two other executives insisted that Windows 10 is an open platform for developers. But Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, still isn’t convinced.
Sweeney started a discussion with bold allegations that Microsoft was slowly moving to close off the open platform of the PC. That prompted the Microsoft reaction at Build. But even after that, Sweeney isn’t satisfied. During a fireside chat on Tuesday at the GamesBeat Summit in Sausalito, California, the Epic Games founder (maker of the Unreal Engine game-making tool and games like Gears of War and Paragon), said that game industry is acting like a frog in a boiling pot. If you put a frog in boiling water, it will jump out. But if you put it in a pot of water and slowly raise the temperature, the frog won’t move and it will eventually boil, Sweeney said.
A bunch of platform owners were in the audience at our event. To them, Sweeney said, “Open platforms encourage innovation. Whenever you have a closed platform, a monopoly on commerce, and all these platform rules, it stifles innovation.”
I think Tim Sweeney needs to make it clear exactly why he's specifically objecting to Microsoft, but is not targeting IOS/MAC, Android, Origin and Steam stores with the same level of aggression. Otherwise his comments are going to fall on deaf ears, as they just make him sound like a hypocrite with a specific grudge towards Microsoft.
I assume he has something worthwhile to say as I very much doubt he is stupid, but whatever it is, he doesn't seem to be making the points very clear because I myself don't even understand why it's Microsoft that he is continuously attacking with his comments?
As a consumer, his complaints seem to have little benefit to me and more about Epic Game's profits than anything else. Deliberately asking that Microsoft make it so that people download and install games and software directly from the internet seems like a step backwards and back to the problem of people who aren't so vigilant installing all sorts of junk from wherever again and back to having individual software updaters needing to update individual pieces of software again. I know first hand what a problem this is with the average person installing things themselves from the internet, it's a right headache. And if I understand correctly, people who are more tech aware and perhaps more cautious to the risks of installing software directly from the internet, can already sideload UWP apps/games anyway? Looking at my settings, 'Sideload apps' is even switched on by default.
I think Tim Sweeney needs to make it clear exactly why he's specifically objecting to Microsoft, but is not targeting IOS/MAC, Android, Origin and Steam stores with the same level of aggression. Otherwise his comments are going to fall on deaf ears, as they just make him sound like a hypocrite with a specific grudge towards Microsoft.
I assume he has something worthwhile to say as I very much doubt he is stupid, but whatever it is, he doesn't seem to be making the points very clear because I myself don't even understand why it's Microsoft that he is continuously attacking with his comments?
As a consumer, his complaints seem to have little benefit to me and more about Epic Game's profits than anything else. Deliberately asking that Microsoft make it so that people download and install games and software directly from the internet seems like a step backwards and back to the problem of people who aren't so vigilant installing all sorts of junk from wherever again and back to having individual software updaters needing to update individual pieces of software again. I know first hand what a problem this is with the average person installing things themselves from the internet, it's a right headache. And if I understand correctly, people who are more tech aware and perhaps more cautious to the risks of installing software directly from the internet, can already sideload UWP apps/games anyway? Looking at my settings, 'Sideload apps' is even switched on by default.
