David Helgason at Quo Vadis.
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Unity’s David Helgason on the open-versus-closed Windows debate

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 3 min

David Helgason, cofounder of Unity Technologies, and Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, are rivals in the game engine business. But they have similar views when it comes to openness of game platforms.

Sweeney blasted Microsoft for moving to make Windows 10 into a closed ecosystem. But Microsoft said it had no such plans, and said it is committed to keeping the PC open. A few game developers came out on Sweeney’s side, but the conversation has stalled as neither side completely trusts the other. Quite a few companies, including Unity Technologies, declined to comment.

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Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.