Fortnite is coming back to iOS (only in the European Union for now) four years after Apple pulled the game from the App Store. This comes as Epic Games officially launches its mobile app store.
- The Epic Games Store is now available on iOS in the EU and Android globally, the company said in a blog post.
- There are currently three games on the store: Fortnite, Fall Guys, and Rocket League Sideswipe. Players will be able to receive special cosmetic rewards after downloading the EGS and these titles.
- Epic Games Store general manager Steve Allison said during a press conference that the company plans to have 100 million new EGS mobile installs by the end of the year. A curated library of third-party games will be available in December.
- According to Allison, Epic Games is now in talks with “just about every single one” of the top 250 mobile developers.
- The mobile version of the EGS will have the same 88/12 revenue share model as on PC, as well as free games and special programs such as Epic Rewards and Epic First Run.
- Epic said its goal is to make the Epic Games Store “the leading multiplatform game store, open to all app and game developers.”
The biggest challenge for the Epic Games Store on iOS is Apple’s policy. In March, the Cupertino-based company terminated Epic’s developer account on iOS before restoring it under the compliance with the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). Apple also rejected Epic’s submission to launch a third-party app store twice, but then approved the iOS app for notarization following a public statement from the Fortnite maker.
Even though the Epic Games Store finally launched on iOS thanks to the DMA, Apple made everything in its power to make it difficult for third-party stores to operate on the platform. Devs who list their products outside the App Store will have to pay €0.50 for each install after the first million per year.
Despite the ongoing pressure from the European Commission, Apple introduced additional fees last week. The company will charge 20% on sales made through external links outside of the App Store, making things harder for developers who want to use third-party payment methods.
“We’d like to use the walled garden terminology, but these core tech fees and the new things introduced last week made the wall a little bit higher, and maybe [Apple] put some barbed wire on top,” Allison said today.
So Epic Games will have to put in a lot of effort to convince third-party developers to use the EGS on iOS.