Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney performed at DICE Summit in Las Vegas and spoke about the situation in the gaming industry. He noted that companies need to move towards a ubiquitous cross-platform, as well as abandon loot boxes and any policy influence.
According to Sweeney, gaming has become not only a form of entertainment, but also a platform for communication between people. In this situation, companies should not limit users to their own systems.
“Now we must accept the equal rights of all users to access content and stop closing their systems or create monopolies. Fortnite users who play with friends spend twice as much time and money on the client. Cross-platform is the future of the industry, and we must work in this direction. ”
The head of Epic Games also spoke about lootboxes. According to him, companies should abandon this mechanics in the sale of content in order to regain the respect of the audience.
“Now we must understand where we are moving as an industry. Do we want to be second Vegas with one-armed bandits or respected content creators that your audience can trust? I think in the future, publishers will gradually move away from lootboxes.
We must be very careful about services, the pleasure of which depends on the funds spent by the user. Lootboxes are no different from slot machines, only in the end they do not give the opportunity to earn more. “
Sweeney concluded the presentation with words about the influence of politics on the gaming industry. The head of Epic Games did not provide specific examples.
“We must give up politics in everything related to games. Today, a person’s views influence which restaurant he goes to. There is no reason that such controversial topics have weight in our industry.
Our employees, customers and everyone else should be able to speak out. “Companies need to completely step back from politics – platforms must be neutral.”
In support of his words, Sweeney cited Fortnite, which works with a separate economic system without loot boxes and is available on all current platforms without restrictions. In addition, he recalled that Google refused to add the “royal battle” from Epic Games to the Play Market only because of the payment methods for in-game items.
