Epic Games Store has been successful, and it has been in a lot of controversies as well. Perhaps, one of the weirdest accusations on the company is it’s a spyware, and it’s not just an ordinary malware because it’s Chinese spyware.
There are a lot of conspiracy theories, and some say China’s communist party can access Tencent that owns 40% of Epic. Tim Sweeney, Epic’s CEO has spoken about it.
Sweeney mentioned on Twitter that he is supporting the right of everyone to say what they feel about the tech industry.
He also mentioned Epic Games Store has a lot of exclusive titles and there’s the Spartan feature set, and people can criticize those. However, he is asking people should separate the opinions and facts from the deceits about foreign control and spyware.
The tweet is a response to an USGamer article about its logical conclusion about the issues of Epic’s store. It’s also an answer to the statement that even if the store has concerns, it is definitely not Chinese spyware.
Sweeney acknowledged the concerns briefly, and he clarifies the relationship of Tencent to Epic.
All the investors of Epic are their partners and friends and none of them can mandate Epic on what to do. None of them can access the customer data of Epic. When Epic sent the investment invitation to Tencent in 2012, the goal of Epic way back then is online gaming. Sweeney mentioned he never regretted the decision.
Sweeney is completely responsible for each huge decision in the company, and all of those decisions have been concluded in the US.
The proponents of the theory about Epic being Chinese spyware believe that Tencent’s partial ownership of Epic means they have a say to Epic Games Store’s company decisions. They believe they can talk to Sweeney about collaborating with the Chinese government about spying on people.
Tim Sweeney has mentioned he’s not a part of any communist intelligence data.
Epic Games Store is suffering from an image issue, and the people in the industry have addressed this. Even if there’s industry monopoly from Steam because of its profitable revenue split, Epic Games Store is doing its best to challenge Steam, and it’s addressing its critics.
There are criticisms about the poor design and lack of features of Epic Game Store, but it is really a fair criticism.
It’s just that the harshest criticism is Epic Games Store’s literal spyware. It sounds funny and absurd, and there might only be a few people who believe the allegation.
Some people believe the claim about Epic Store’s being spyware but there’s no concrete proof at the moment, and the best people can do is to believe the words of Sweeney.
