Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games (hereinafter referred to as Tim Sweeney): The ecosystem structures of Android and Apple are fundamentally different, making a direct comparison difficult. However, I view Google’s decision positively, as they are now fully permitting competing stores.

In contrast, Apple charges a 15% commission in the Japanese market where it permits competing stores, which I believe is unjust under US law. Furthermore, I find it inappropriate to impose additional fees on Korean developers who are already utilizing domestic payment systems for their services.

Park Sung-chul, CEO of Epic Games Korea (hereinafter referred to as Park Sung-chul): While the contention in Japan revolves around additional commission rates with store downloads enabled, the situation in Korea is more discriminatory; the installation of competing stores is entirely blocked here.

Tim Sweeney: It is true that we agreed not to publicly criticize Google's terms of service until 2032. This is the result of a commercial settlement to conclude the litigation. With the exception of two confidential clauses, the settlement agreement with Google is transparent, and it is not an exclusive benefit for Epic, but rather a governance provision that applies equally to all developers.

Epic's core principle remains singular: 'to provide consumers with the best offers through free competition.' We will continue to fight legally against anti-competitive practices, such as Apple's blocking of stores in Korea and the 5% surcharge in Japan.

Tim Sweeney: In terms of platforms, our competitors are not just Roblox with its 450 million MAU, but every platform that commands consumer time—YouTube, TikTok, and Netflix. On the development tool front, we are looking at engines like Unity and Godot, as well as Generative AI that creates code, and world models that implement games via real-time hallucination rather than traditional code. As the industry changes at breakneck speed, Epic Games is focused on maintaining and expanding our user base during this technological transition.

Tim Sweeney: I am aware of the intriguing AI research conducted by Korean game companies, including NC. Currently, the primary direction for Unreal Engine AI is to integrate LLMs based on billions of parameters as AI assistants to accelerate development, and we are seeing excellent results from Claude, ChatGPT, Grok, and Gemini. We actively welcome participation from Korean developers and see significant opportunities in specialized AI fields that do not require massive capital, such as voice or 3D object generation.

Tim Sweeney: The current state where platforms like PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, and Steam form fragmented social ecosystems that isolate users is archaic. The next generation of gaming trends will be an open ecosystem that breaks down these barriers and supports cross-platform social interaction, and Korea is at the heart of that shift.

Park Sung-chul: The Unreal Engine 6 ecosystem is not one where the platform holder controls everything. It provides the technical foundation for developers and players to proactively connect different games and platforms via P2P, allowing for interoperability of accounts and items. This enables domestic developers to maintain leadership in the global market by freely linking their services, whether independent or within the Epic ecosystem.

Tim Sweeney: Epic is a member of 'Team Open.' Whether it is Steam or a console manufacturer, we welcome anyone who shares our vision of linking services via P2P to benefit all game developers. Epic does not aim to become an 'Overlord' of the market, but rather a 'Participant' in an open ecosystem where everyone benefits through cooperation.

Park Sung-chul: As a result of the litigation, an environment has opened up where other developers can freely build third-party stores on Google Play without commission fees. Unreal Engine 6 is designed to support complex technical hurdles like account linking and item transfers between different platforms via tools like Verse, making these open-store scenarios a reality.

Tim Sweeney: Epic invests massive resources into monitoring the content we host. We conduct comprehensive inspections of all Fortnite islands created in-game through a combination of human teams and AI monitoring. Furthermore, we employ reporting systems for profanity, defamation, and hate speech in voice/text chats, complemented by AI assistant detection.

In our pursuit of an open ecosystem, it is necessary to distinguish between areas directly created or hosted by Epic and those extending to the external web or metaverse. Specifically, when moving to the external web, we implement clear age rating systems to ensure parents can directly control their children's access range. Beyond this, while we guarantee autonomous access for adults, we remain committed to preventing harmful content by strictly handling illegal activities through established legal procedures.