Source: AFP
Fortnite creator Epic Games launched its own app store on Friday that lets users bypass stores run by Apple and Google after a years-long battle to offer its games directly to smartphone users.
The Epic Games Store is available to Android phone users worldwide and iPhone and iPad users in Europe.
The store’s launch comes after Epic fought legal battles and lobbied regulators to loosen Apple and Google’s grip on selling apps for phones with their operating systems.
“We’re very excited to be on the verge of launching our games on iOS and Android, enabled by Europe’s new DMA law,” Epic CEO Tim Sweeney told reporters from the company’s office in Sweden .
The new EU law, known as the Digital Markets Act (DMA), has forced Apple to open up to app developers in Europe, but the US company is not doing so elsewhere.
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“The DMA has asked us to enable new features for developers in the EU, and we’ve worked to make them as easy as possible for users, while trying to protect their privacy and security,” Apple said on Friday.
EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton posted on X that “Yes players, Europe means more #FREEDOM & choices!”
Fortnite is also returning to iPhone and iPad after being banned in 2020 for trying to bypass Apple’s payment systems.
Epic in 2020 launched a lawsuit aimed at breaking Apple’s grip on the App Store, accusing the iPhone maker of operating a monopoly on its digital services store.
But she lost her challenge to Apple taking a cut of up to 30 percent on all financial transactions in its app store in a US federal court. In January, the US Supreme Court declined to hear the case, effectively ending the legal saga.
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Apple justified the fees as helping to ensure that dangerous apps are removed and the operating system is secure.
‘Rubbing’
Epic is the first major video game publisher to open its own app store for Android and Apple devices.
In order to attract app developers to its store, Epic offers them better revenue sharing terms than Apple or Google.
But Epic said Apple didn’t make it easy, with a long and opaque process to set up its app store and unfavorable conditions for developers to work with them.
When it announced last week that it would comply with new EU regulations, Apple said it would implement a new fee structure for developers who send customers from an app for offers and content.
Epic has set a goal of 100 million installs of its app store on Android and iOS devices by the end of the year.
“The only thing that will stand in our way will be the friction that Apple and Google will put in front of us and it is very important,” said Steve Allison, head of the Epic Games Store.
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In addition to Fortnite, Rocket League Sideswipe is also available in the store, as is Fall Guys making its first appearance on mobile.
“This is just the beginning of a long effort to bring our games back to all these platforms worldwide, and the fight isn’t over until Fortnite is back on iOS everywhere and free of Apple taxes,” Sweeney said.
Source: AFP
