Epic Games CEO: Apple Is Next after Google; We’ll Put Fortnite on Any Store (Including Steam) Without 30% Fee

wccftech.com:

It wasn't long ago that Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney had to announce a significant reduction in the company's workforce, firing 16% of the employees (around 830 in total). The news caught everyone by surprise, as the company's pockets had been filled by loads of revenue generated by Fortnite as well as the increasingly successful Unreal Engine licensing program.

The Epic Games CEO explained in short order that some parts of the company had become disconnected from their own revenue sources, and when the proverbial golden goose couldn't quite cover for them anymore, there was no recourse but to reduce the personnel. Of course, Epic had also been investing a lot in its legal fights as well as its Epic Games Store promotions to lure both users and game developers.

Still, despite this setback, Tim Sweeney redoubled on all of the aforementioned company's core initiatives, not budging an inch from his vision. Just a few weeks later, the future looks a lot brighter for Epic Games.

First of all, Fortnite broke new player count records thanks to the 'OG' season, with over 100 million players logged into the game in November. That seems to be just the tip of the iceberg, as the recent release of Chapter 5 Season 1 and the newly launched Lego Fortnite, Rocket Racing, and Fortnite Festival experiences are causing more player count peaks.

But the biggest win for the Epic Games CEO came a few hours ago when a jury in the US Federal Court of the Northern District of California ruled unanimously against Google's monopolistic practices. Tim Sweeney had long decried both Apple and Google's stranglehold on the Android and iOS environments, not to mention their outrageous 30% fees for any and all purchases made in their stores, launching massive