Sweeney [Pictured] said the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority had made a proper dog’s breakfast of mobile regulation after it decided to delay a decision on the fees Apple and Google charge developers.
“We thought the UK was going strong for 18 months or so here until the most recent decision to not mandate competing stores. To not pursue that just seems like a blunder to me,” Sweeney said.
The CMA’s dithering means British iPhone and iPad users will wait even longer to see Fortnite return to their devices, while players in Europe, the US and elsewhere are already getting back into the game.
Sweeney said the delay “came as a shock”, particularly as Epic had seen signs of steady progress in other regions. After being booted off the App Store years ago, Fortnite has only just returned to US iPhones following a partial court win. The same happened in Australia last week.
Epic is launching its own games store for iOS in the EU, thanks to Brussels’ Digital Markets Act, which has forced Job’s Mob to allow third-party storefronts. The UK, by contrast, has taken a gentler approach, saying it might revisit the issue next year, once it’s had more tea and biscuits.
The CMA is toying with giving Apple and Google “strategic market status” under the UK’s new digital rules. That might eventually mean developers can use their own payment systems or send users to their own websites instead of coughing up to Job’s Mob and Google for in-app purchases.
Job’s Mob whinged about the proposals, insisting they would “undermine its users’ privacy and security” and get in the way of innovation. Skimming up to 30 per cent off the top of every transaction counts as a public service which everyone needs.
The CMA has so far refused to force side loading or allow competing app stores, unlike the EU. Instead, it claimed there were “higher priority” abuses to deal with and punted the big decisions to 2026.
The UK government has told the regulator to stop scaring off foreign investment, following its embarrassing bust-up with Microsoft over the Activision deal in 2023.
Sweeney said the UK would now lag “well behind” the EU, US, Japan and Brazil when it comes to opening up mobile competition. “A lot of that really depends on exactly what the UK regulators do in terms of payment [alternatives],” he said.
The return of Fortnite to iPhones in major markets has been a “huge change” for Epic, Sweeney said. “It means we are now a contender in the global mobile business at a critical time.”
Even as the global games market slows, Epic reckons there’s still plenty of life left in online virtual worlds.
“People now really are genuinely spending a good part of their time online in 3D virtual worlds having fun with friends. It really is a new form of entertainment. It’s not like playing through Mario Bros in the old days, sitting by yourself alone,” he said without explaining the difference.
