Epic Games, which was excluded from Apple’s “walled garden” four years ago for violating app store guidelines, has set up its own digital store for customers in Europe.
Thanks to the EU’s Digital Markets Act, Apple is required to give its mobile devices access to third-party app stores. Where once there was only one Apple way – apologies to Microsoft’s solipsistic address – there are now at least five alternative iOS app stores in the EU.
These include: AltStore PAL, Aptoide, Mobivention and SetApp Mobile.
The latest addition, the Epic Games Store, now offers iOS-using Europeans access to entertainment titles such as Fortnite, Rocket League Sideswipe and Fall Guys. Epic also makes its iOS titles available on AltStore PAL and soon on Apotide’s iOS store.
Additionally, the Epic Games Store will be available to Android users worldwide, although that’s less of a cross-border move than opening a competing iOS store – the Android ecosystem has had room for third-party stores for years, not to mention sideloading (which Apple abhors). ONE Store on Android is also expected to distribute Epic’s games.
The process to install the Epic Games Store on iOS in the EU is quite complicated and requires numerous steps, as demonstrated in this video. Epic attributes this to “Apple and Google intentionally introducing poor quality installation experiences laden with multiple steps, confusing device settings, and scare screens,” and says it is pursuing the issue in court.
Fortnite has been unavailable on iOS since 2020, when Apple banned the game in response to violations of App Store policies and Epic sued Apple in the US.
Although the game maker won only one of its ten lawsuits against Apple – and this has not yet been resolved even after several appeals – Epic’s legal campaign to keep platform gatekeepers away from its revenue streams was surprisingly successful.
Epic won a major victory against Google and its Android app store rules last December. Its antitrust case against Google in Australia was settled in July and is now awaiting a decision. The web giant’s rebellion against the gatekeeper fee also could not be ignored by competition watchdogs around the world, several of whom have now launched investigations or filed antitrust lawsuits against Apple and Google.
However, the platform’s collapse has come at a price. Epic is said to have lost about a billion dollars in revenue, not to mention the layoffs last year that affected 16 percent of the company, or about 870 employees.
For developers, the Epic Game Store offers better financial terms than Apple’s App Store with its 30 percent fee (or 15 percent for small developers): a store fee of 12 percent for payments processed by Epic and zero for payments to third parties.
The math, however, looks less convincing when you add in the fees Apple has charged for this platform heresy – in particular, fees for external payment processing or distribution. These vary depending on whether the developer uses the Alternative Terms Addendum for Apps in the EU or the StoreKit External Purchase Link Entitlement (EU) Addendum. They include an initial acquisition fee (5 percent), a store service fee (10/20 percent, or 7 percent for App Store Small Business Program participants or subscriptions with automatic renewal after one year), and a Core Technology fee (€0.50) for each install after the first million.
Epic founder and CEO Tim Sweeney nevertheless seems satisfied with how things are going.
“The tide is turning and the mobile ecosystem is finally opening up to competition,” he said in a statement. “We are grateful to the European Commission for making it possible to launch the Epic Games Store and offer our games to iOS users in the European Union. Now European iOS users and all Android users can access our store and games as they have always been able to on open platforms like PC and Mac.”
“The battle is far from over, but this is tangible progress for developers and consumers who can now benefit from competition and choice.” ®
