Epic expands its mobile games store by helping pay developers iOS fees

Epic Games is adding nearly 20 third-party games to its global Android mobile app store and EU iOS mobile app store, as well as launching a free games program on mobile devices starting with: Balloon Tower Defense 6 and Endless Dungeon: Apogee. also promised to pay Charging developers some iOS fees is part of a plan to overcome what Epic says is a major obstacle to getting out of the App Store.

“Our goal is not just to launch a bunch of different stores in different places, but to build a single cross-platform store where, in the era of multi-platform gaming, if you buy a game or digital goods,” said Epic CEO Tim Under the plan, Epic will offer new free games in the store monthly, and eventually move to weekly, Tim Sweeney told reporters at a press conference.

To make it easier for developers participating in the iOS Free Games Program to get deals, Epic will help cover the cost of using third-party marketplaces. Over the course of a year, it will pay these developers a Core Technology Fee (CTF): 50 euro cents when installing iOS apps using third-party stores after more than 1 million downloads per year. (Apple offers a three-year entry opportunity to developers with global revenue of less than 10 million euros.)

Epic has been an outspoken critic of CTF. In a blog post, it lamented: “Even if a developer decides to list just a game on the Epic Games Store, they have to pay a fee every time All of their games are available for download on iPhone or iPad, whether from the Apple App Store or another store. Sweeney said the fee was “devastating to any hope of competitors gaining a foothold.” He said that while Epic would suffer losses from paying CTF to these developers, “we feel we Gotta be the one to break the ice there. ”

The company wants the EU to take action over alleged breaches of the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which governs digital competition. Epic wrote in its blog post that paying the fee “is not financially viable or long-term viable for every third-party app store or for Epic, but we will continue to investigate Apple's failure to comply with the law before the European Commission.” Do this during the situation.”

It's the latest step in Epic's long-running battle with mobile operating system developers Apple and Google. The game maker has challenged the two companies over their practices in the United States, with mixed results, and hopes the EU will take action. The iOS Epic Games Store is EU-only because Apple is forced to open up its ecosystem under the DMA; it continues to say its restrictions elsewhere are to protect the security of its systems.

Epic argued that many mobile game developers are not on its store because Apple and Google block them through restrictions and fees. The company cited the CTF as saying their identities were withheld to avoid retaliation from Apple. as a deterrent.

Epic said in its blog post that its mobile store has seen far fewer installs than expected since launch: just 29 million installs by the end of 2024, against its goal of 100 million. It attributes this in part to friction such as mobile “scary screens,” which it says drive users away More than 50% of the time, the Epic Games Store will not be installed.

With a doubled install base, plus the network effect of users getting their friends to join, “I think we could easily get to 100 million users,” Sweeney claimed. Finally, he added, “Unless the DMA is strongly enforced, we won't really have app store freedom, even in Europe, and we won't have actual user choice and competition.”

Epic has been fighting this battle for a long time, and 2020’s flashy lawsuit against Apple marked a key turning point. But Sweeney is prepared for the fight to continue for much of this decade. Sweeney said he remains optimistic that Donald Trump's appointees are ready to take on the industry, even as the new U.S. president appears to be quite comfortable with Big Tech.

“The irony is that Epic Games only competes equally with the App Store in Europe,” Sweeney said. “In the United States, we are blocked. In the United States, U.S. citizens have no access to fortnite (on iOS) — Apple has blocked it. I think this is ridiculous and needs to change, and it will change. “