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Sean Hollister

Sean Hollister

Senior Editor

Senior Editor

    More From Sean Hollister

    Sean Hollister
    Sean Hollister
    Epic CEO Tim Sweeney explains the Fortnite bug that Google leaked.

    It’s known as a man-in-the-disk vulnerability, it’s complicated, but the idea is if a user downloaded Fortnite from the Samsung Galaxy Store, then went somewhere else and installed malware from a webpage, that malware could modify some of the files Fortnite had installed and use that to escalate its privileges to become more malware-y.

    He says the bug was only ever on the Samsung Galaxy version of Fortnite, was fixed within two days, and says he’s unaware if anyone was ever harmed by the vulnerability.

    Sean Hollister
    Sean Hollister
    Samsung agreed to take 12 percent of Fortnite revenue — not 30 percent.

    We knew this — it’s #95 here — but Sweeney says Samsung offered Epic a special deal. “Samsung agreed to waive its normal 30 percent fee... and charge us just 12 percent of revenue for every transaction it processed,” he says.

    Sweeney also says the two-step download process (Fortnite Launcher, then Fortnite) was all about updates. Every week when Epic offered a new version of Fortnite, users would have to download the game all over again if not for the launcher, Sweeney says.

    Sean Hollister
    Sean Hollister
    Epic CEO Sweeney says he “absolutely believed” Android was an open platform before 2018.

    “Epic isn’t seeking to negotiate better Google Play terms; this is driven by the principle and opportunity of open platforms,” he wrote on June 22nd, 2018, explaining why Epic originally decided to skip the Google Play Store when it launched Fortnite on Android.

    Epic is setting up Sweeney to reveal how betrayed Epic felt to learn Android wasn’t as open as he thought. Google did something similar the other day.

    A secret Google deal let Spotify completely bypass Android’s app store feesA secret Google deal let Spotify completely bypass Android’s app store fees
    Sean Hollister
    Sean Hollister
    “It was our initial plan” to launch Fortnite directly on the Google Play Store, says Sweeney.

    He’s now telling us why that didn’t happen — including a desire to build a direct relationship with Epic’s customers and to do so without Google taking a 30 percent cut.

    (We moved on fairly quickly from the Sony cross-play fight; Sweeney suggested that Sony and Epic actually became closer afterward, with Sony Pictures using the Unreal Engine, Sony Music partnering on Fortnite, and Sony Corp becoming a shareholder in Epic.)

    I wonder what Google’s lawyers will do with the “direct relationship with customers” assertion. Document dumps from the Epic v. Apple trial suggest Epic was hugely reliant on Sony; seemingly happy to let PlayStation have that relationship and pay Sony’s fee.

    Sean Hollister
    Sean Hollister
    And we’re off for lunch.

    More from Epic CEO Tim Sweeney when we return.

    Sean Hollister
    Sean Hollister
    Tim Sweeney says he would have taken Sony to court over PlayStation cross-play.

    “We were willing to fight them in court if necessary,” says Epic CEO Tim Sweeney.

    He’s explaining a June 2018 email he sent to Sony’s Phil Rosenberg, threatening that Fortnite cross-play would happen one way or another.

    “Please inform Kodera-san, and please be clear, that Epic will enable full interoperability between all platforms in Fortnite at a timely point in the future ... we are prepared to pursue this course with all available resources, wherever it leads us, and for however long.”

    Sean Hollister
    Sean Hollister
    “Is this the first time, this case I mean with Google, that Epic has had a serious disagreement with one of its platform partners?”

    We’re getting to the first point Epic wants to make — that Epic has a reason (that’s not greed) to bring this case to court.

    Sweeney says no, you couldn’t play Fortnite across Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox when it first arrived, but Epic “went to battle” to change that. That’s a fight Epic won, I might add — though not all by itself.

    Sean Hollister
    Sean Hollister
    “I wrote about a quarter of a million lines of computer code in three and a half years.”

    Tim Sweeney is speaking hurriedly but seems to be comfortable on the stand — then again, he’s being questioned by Epic’s lawyer, not Google’s lawyer yet. Epic has grilled most of the witnesses it has called since most of them have been current or former Google employees.

    “I built the very first version of the Unreal Engine myself between 1995 and 1998,” he says. Everything he’s said so far has been background about what his company does and a rough idea of which companies Epic competes with.

    Now, we’re watching a brief intro video to what the Unreal Engine is and what it can do. (Many game developers and some Hollywood studios use it to generate all kinds of 3D graphics; The Mandalorian famously used it for entire digital sets.)

    Sean Hollister
    Sean Hollister
    Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has just been sworn in.

    We’re going to break for lunch before questioning begins in earnest, but he says, “I’m responsible for everything the company does.”

    He says he co-founded the company at the age of 20 and had been programming since the age of 12.

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