Epic Games Store launches on iOS and Android, Epic expects 100 million installs this year

Fortnite is returning to iOS (for now only in the European Union), four years after Apple removed the game from the App Store. This comes as Epic Games officially launches its mobile app store.

• The Epic Games Store is now available for iOS in the EU and for Android worldwide, the company said in a blog post.
• There are currently three games in the store: Fortnite, Fall Guys, and Rocket League Sideswipe. Players can receive special cosmetic rewards after downloading the EGS and these titles.
• Steve Allison, general manager of the Epic Games Store, said during a press conference that the company plans to reach 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 currently in talks with “pretty much every single one” of the top 250 mobile developers.
• The mobile version of EGS features the same 88/12 revenue share model as PC, plus free games and special programs like Epic Rewards and Epic First Run.
• Epic said its goal is to make the Epic Games Store “the leading cross-platform games store open to all app and game developers.”

The biggest challenge facing the Epic Games Store on iOS is Apple’s politics. In March, the Cupertino-based company terminated Epic’s developer account on iOS before restoring it under the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). Apple also rejected Epic’s request to launch a third-party app store twice, but then approved the iOS app for notarization following a public statement from the Fortnite maker.

Although the Epic Games Store has finally launched on iOS thanks to the DMA, Apple has done everything it can to make it difficult for third-party developers to operate on the platform. Developers who offer their products outside the App Store have to pay €0.50 for each install after the first million per year.

Despite continued pressure from the European Commission, Apple introduced additional fees last week. The company will charge 20% on sales made through external links outside the App Store, making it harder for developers who want to use third-party payment methods.

“We’d love to use the walled garden terminology, but these basic technology fees and the new things that were introduced last week have made the wall a little higher, and maybe (Apple) has put some barbed wire on top,” Allison said today.

So Epic Games will have to make a lot of efforts to convince third-party developers to use EGS on iOS.