The metaverse has been the subject of excitement among internet forums since Facebook rebranded to Meta last year, and many have prepared for the arrival of the virtual reality space. However, while the majority of people are anticipating its inevitable advent, others like Tim Sweeney are more concerned about how it will be handled.
Tim Sweeney is the CEO of Fortnite, a game that has been described as the closest thing to the metaverse today. The battle royale platform has welcomed over 70 million gamers into its digital world to fight for supremacy. However, Fortnite has seen a shift in its progress, going beyond the game and welcoming people to experience virtual concerts, talk shows, and even just hang out with friends.
Epic Games, the parent company of Fortnite, sees it as an open ecosystem where other developers can contribute and share their content. As a result, Fortnite players have grown even more excited about the launch of the metaverse. However, Sweeney revealed that he fears that Apple and Google could monopolize the metaverse.
“I’m afraid the current monopolies will use their power to become the next monopolies on new generations of platforms and continue to use that power to exclude all competition,” explained the Fortnite CEO.
Some time ago, Epic launched a lawsuit against Apple for its perceived unfair and monopolistic practice of taking a 30% cut of all app takings through the App Store. The memory remains with Sweeney as he continued:
“If these practices continue on smartphones, they’re not only going to dominate digital commerce and digital goods on smartphones, they’re ultimately going to dominate the metaverse, and they’re going to dominate all physical commerce taking place in virtual and augmented reality.”
Tim Sweeny emphasized his objection to Apple and Google’s stronghold on the app development process, claiming that while Apple competes fairly in hardware where consumers are free to make an alternative choice, it doesn’t compete fairly with its App Store, which has smaller rival offers like the Epic Store unable to serve iPhone users directly.
