Epic Games Store will come to portable on the two iOS and Android toward the finish of 2024, the organization has reported during its Territory of Unbelievable occasion at GDC.
Legendary Games Store senior supervisor Steve Allison said the organization had “vigorously been battling” guardians on versatile – a swipe at stage holders Macintosh and Google. Prominently, Awe-inspiring Chief Tim Sweeney – the typical host for its Territory of Unbelievable occasions – was not at the show as he is right now in Australia for another antitrust legal dispute against the two organizations.
Epic Games Store for Mobile
Allison said the send off of the Amazing Games Store on portable would make it the “very first” games-centered, multiplatform commercial center, moored by players’ Awe-inspiring records. The store will obviously highlight Fortnite and a “determination of outsider accomplices”.
Close by the send off of the store, Awe-inspiring will likewise be delivering new independently publishing apparatuses explicitly for versatile.
Existing expressions for EGS on PC will likewise apply to versatile. This implies that engineers will get a 88/12 income split for designers – quite lower than the Application Store and Google Play’s 30% charge.
Games with in-app purchases can use their own payment service provider. Meanwhile, other deals, such as 0% Unreal Engine royalties for gameson EGS, while better deals with companies that launch exclusively through EGS are also available.
Fortnite and the iPhone
As one of the most popular video games in the world, Fortnite’s absence from iOS has been nothing if not conspicuous. However, with Apple and Epic’s ongoing feud, it seemed, absent the DMA, that it would never come back to Apple’s platform.
As the DMA’s enforcement date approached, Epic made clear that it was planning to bring back Fortnite by launching its own app store in the EU. Not surprisingly, European users were excited.
Epic said that on PC at the end of 2023, EGS had 270 million+ player accounts, with 75m+ monthly active users, with players spending $950 million over the year.
What about the Epic Games Store?
Epic was under the impression that it would be able to launch its own Epic Store on iOS. The move would’ve been a boon for mobile gamers who want to access Epic’s strong repository of games and download the titles without Apple’s oversight.
However, now that Epic has lost its developer license, its store, too, is out. Again, Epic could work with other app stores to make its games more readily available, but whether Apple could somehow block other titles available on other platforms is also unknown.
Other App Stores a possibility
It’s no secret that Apple has kept an iron-like grip on iOS since its launch. Apple has argued that such control ensures security and enhances the quality of using its phones. Its detractors, however, have said that the move only fills Apple’s coffers and limits what developers can create.
The DMA paves the way for developers who wouldn’t otherwise get their apps approved in Apple’s App Store to instead try their luck with third-party marketplaces where rules and regulations may be more relaxed. It also gives users the ability to access a wider array of games and apps that Apple may have previously banned.
However, Apple’s decision to ban Epic raises questions about its ability to ban other third-party app stores from iOS by pulling their developer accounts. As of this writing, it’s unclear just how much control Apple has in stopping third-party marketplaces and whether any attempts to sidestep the DMA by making similar arguments to those it made with Epic could be called into question.
Has Apple found a loophole for stopping users from accessing third-party marketplaces? It’s too soon to tell, but it’s worth watching.
What this means for US iPhone users
To be clear, the US-Epic feud currently only affects European users and companies regulated by the DMA. For American users, therefore, don’t expect any third-party app stores or Epic to find a way to launch Fortnite to U.S. users anytime soon.