Epic Games today launched its alternative iOS app marketplace in the EU with three of its games: Fortnite, Rocket League Sideswipe and Fall Guys. These games are also available on AltStore PAL and will later be available on Aptoide, both of which offer alternative storefronts in the EU. Epic also announced that it will be adding third-party games by the end of the year.
According to Stephen Totilo, who interviewed Epic CEO Tim Sweeney and others for his excellent newsletter Game File earlier this week:
The company has spent hundreds of millions battling Apple and Google since 2020 to get to this point, Sweeney told Game File during an interview earlier this week.
And, he added, Epic may have lost up to $1 billion in Fortnite revenue,
Tim Sweeney can sometimes exaggerate a bit when talking about his company’s disputes with Apple and Google, but his detailed answer to Totilo’s question about the impact of App Store fees on the mobile gaming industry is excellent and sounded authentic to me. Both he and Altstore co-founder Riley Testut explained to Totilo that mobile gaming and Apple would thrive if fees were reduced, with Testut pointing to changes in the App Review Guidelines on emulators and virtual machines as evidence of the positive results of the competition.
For anyone in the EU interested in installing the Epic Game Store, Epic has released a walkthrough video on YouTube:
