Tim Sweeney, the outspoken CEO of Epic Games, is once again making headlines for taking a bold and blistering stand against two of the world’s most powerful tech companies—Apple and Google. Speaking at a recent Y Combinator event, Sweeney accused the tech giants of operating like "gangster-style businesses," claiming they consistently bend or break rules to maintain their dominance in the mobile app market. According to him, their business models rely on manipulative tactics, monopolistic behavior, and fear-based deterrents that not only stifle innovation but also hurt smaller developers who don’t have the resources to compete on an uneven playing field.
Sweeney painted a detailed and troubling picture of how app distribution currently works under these tech ecosystems. He explained that Android devices, when users attempt to install third-party app stores like Epic’s, trigger "scare screens" that warn against downloading apps from "unknown sources." These warnings, he said, are intentionally worded and designed to cause panic or hesitation, resulting in 50 to 60 percent of users abandoning the process entirely. The goal, he argued, is clear: make users fearful of anything outside the official Play Store ecosystem.
And the situation isn’t much better on Apple’s side. Even in the European Union, where the Digital Markets Act (DMA) has legally opened the door for sideloading and alternative app stores, Apple continues to issue ominous warning messages that dissuade users from venturing outside the App Store. Sweeney called this "textbook self-preferencing," saying Apple is effectively weaponizing user experience to make third-party app stores look dangerous or unreliable. This manipulation, he argues, keeps the vast majority of users locked into Apple's ecosystem—whether they like it or not.
"Apple and Google are no longer good-faith, law-abiding companies," Sweeney declared. "They are now behaving in many ways like organized crime syndicates, exploiting their control of mobile platforms to enforce anti-competitive restrictions." These remarks echo Sweeney’s long-standing belief that real choice and competition are being suppressed in the digital marketplace by tech giants that are too powerful and too comfortable in their monopolies.
Adding another layer to his criticism, Sweeney posted on X (formerly Twitter), likening Apple and Google's 30% app store commissions to government-imposed tariffs. He labeled these charges as "global developer taxes" that punish creators for simply trying to distribute their work. In response to reports of new US tariffs on Chinese goods, Sweeney argued that neither Apple nor Google should receive any tariff relief unless they agree to open up their ecosystems to alternative app stores and third-party payment systems. He emphasized that while governments penalize foreign imports, domestic digital monopolies are allowed to impose their own digital trade barriers.
Sweeney didn’t stop at rhetoric—he also highlighted specific financial hurdles that developers face. One such policy is Apple’s new “Core Technology Fee”, which charges 50 cents per install per year for any app that exceeds 1 million downloads annually. According to Sweeney, this charge could spell doom for free-to-play apps, many of which rely on high user numbers and low per-user revenue. "Unless your app is making serious money per user, Apple would bankrupt you," he said. "It's a silent killer for indie developers and startups."
Epic Games, which is behind global hits like Fortnite and the Unreal Engine, has been on a years-long legal crusade against Apple and Google. In 2020, the company famously introduced its own direct payment system in Fortnite to bypass Apple’s in-app purchase cut—leading to the game being banned from both the App Store and Google Play. Epic sued both companies. It won its case against Google in 2023, but lost against Apple, though the court did order Apple to allow developers to link to external payment options, a partial win for Epic’s larger goal of reforming the ecosystem.
Despite this mixed outcome, Sweeney remains undeterred. He announced that the Epic Games Store will open for developer submissions later this year for both Android and iOS. However, he acknowledged that the current landscape has prevented any major developers from distributing flagship titles through the store. So far, only older or back-catalog titles have been made available—a sign of how difficult it remains to break the status quo.
This is not the first time Sweeney has taken such a public stand. Back in 2021, during a speech in South Korea—a country that had just passed a law requiring app stores to permit third-party billing—Sweeney didn’t hold back. He called Google “crazy” and warned that “Apple must be stopped,” arguing that these companies were using their platform control not just to maximize profits, but to intentionally sabotage competitors.
Despite minor legal and regulatory wins in places like South Korea and the EU, Sweeney believes real change will only come through aggressive enforcement and broader public awareness. "Crime pays for big tech companies," he said bluntly. “We won’t see things change until regulators and governments around the world begin to hold these companies truly accountable.”
If this momentum continues, 2025 could become a pivotal year for mobile app distribution—one that could see Epic either finally breaking through the app store monopoly wall or escalating its fight to even greater heights. Would you like a comparison chart showing the differences between Apple and Google’s policies vs Epic’s proposed model?
