Firstly, they have done absolutely zero of the work needed to make the platform into the giant international success that it is.
And secondly - they are complaining about making insufficient profits from FortNite, which is an addictive video game which makes its money from selling in-game currency to children.
When we compare the value that Apple has added to the world by building the App Store ecosystem, to the value that these in-game purchases are adding to the world, and for which they are claiming they should be able to profit more from, it’s hard to make the case that Epic is somehow being deprived of some just reward for their contribution.
I don’t think it’s wrong for Epic to be able to do business the way they do.
But clearly there is no moral case to be made for the claim that Epic has better business practices than Apple or they they are some kind of victim here.
It took more than a decade for the iPhone to get to where it has - longer if you consider the iPod as the foundation of the success the iPhone continued.
Given the giant inflows of cash they are receiving there is no reason why Epic couldn’t start building their own platform.
Console makers have proven that this is a profitable business, and we are about to see a wave of think client devices that play streaming games. Apple is clearly vulnerable to disruption in the gaming space.
If Epic wants a platform, they can build one, and it will take a similar amount of work to what it took Apple.