Epic co-founder Tim Sweeney hasn't shied away from calling out Microsoft's Universal Windows Platform (UWP) as a direct threat to the PC's ecosystem. In March, Sweeney warned that Microsoft would probably throttle traditional Win 32 applications on Windows 10 in order to force users to use UWP applications.
Universal Windows Platform is designed to allow developers to write applications that run seamlessly on Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile without the need to maintain 2 different versions of the code. Using UWP also allows game developers to take advantage of features such as Universal Play. On the other side, UWP has been criticized for introducing unnecessary technical limitations such as the inability to disable vsync and incompatibility with multiple graphic cards setups in addition to disallowing game modding and blocking programs such as Fraps and Steam Overlay. And to top it off, UWP applications can only be installed from the Windows Store unless the user fumbles with his Windows settings.
In an interview with Edge Magazine, Sweeney exclaimed that Microsoft's sinister plan to take away the PC ecosystem's freedom is already progressing slowly with the aim of killing Steam gradually over the next 5 years.
"Slowly, over the next five years, [Microsoft] will force-patch Windows 10 to make Steam progressively worse and more broken," he claimed. "They'll never completely break it, but will continue to break it until, in five years, people are so fed up that Steam is buggy that the Windows Store seems like an ideal alternative."
"That's exactly what they did to their previous competitors in other areas. Now they're doing it to Steam. It's only just starting to become visible. Microsoft might not be competent enough to succeed with their plan, but they're certainly trying."
Sweeney believes that once all developers have switched to UWP, it would be trivial for Microsoft to disable the option to install them away from the Windows Store, effectively turning Windows PC into a closed platform.
"It won't be that one day they flip a switch that will break your Steam library - what they're trying to do is a series of sneaky maneuvers. They make it more and more inconvenient to use the old apps, and, simultaneously, they try to become the only source for the new ones."
Microsoft issued the following statement in response to Sweeney's criticism:
"Tim is a respected figure in the gaming world, and we value his feedback. The Universal Windows Platform is a fully open ecosystem that is available to every developer, and can be supported by any store. It's early, and we recognise there is still work to be done, but we want to make Windows the best development platform regardless of technologies used."
