THE a four-year saga The details of Epic Games’ battle with Apple over in-app purchases are about to reach their climax. Epic plans to roll out its games, including the monstrously popular Fortniteon the third-party app marketplace AltStore, and not just on its own Epic Games Store, which is still launching. This is good news for iOS users (at least in the EU) but bad news for Samsung fans since you won’t find Fortnite or any other Epic mobile title on the Galaxy Store.
In January, Apple opened a crack in his infamous walled garden to comply with the European Union’s Digital Markets Act. This allowed third-party app stores on iOS for the first time in the iPhone’s 17-year history. Following the release of this news, Epic declared Fortnite would return to iOS “via the Epic Games Store.” The company said it was leaving some app stores “who serve as rent collectors without violently competing and serving all developers fairly.”
Epic says the company is pulling out of Samsung’s Galaxy Store. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney said This is because Samsung blocks sideloading by default. Epic has sued Google, calling the Play Store anti-competitive. The company claimed in its post that Google had offered Samsung “to restrict competition in the Android app distribution market.” Fortnite is currently not on the Neither does Google Play Store.
As detailed in a report this week by Android AuthorityNewer Samsung devices with One UI 6.1.1 block sideloading by default. Of course, you can re-enable it via Settings, although most users don’t know when or where to do it.
In its blog post published Thursday, Epic said its games marketplace would be “coming to Android globally and iOS in the European Union,” but did not give a specific date. The company said that Fortnite and Epic’s other mobile games would end up on third-party iOS app stores, particularly AltStore, for iPhone users in the EU. These games will soon be available on two other third-party app stores, the company said.
In March, Apple deleted Epic’s developer account, saying Epic was “clearly untrustworthy” regarding its contractual agreements, according to a letter sent to the game publisher. Epic made the letter public, and the CEO Tim Sweeney claims he lost his access because of his anti-Apple tweetsApple told Gizmodo that the case was due to “Epic’s flagrant breach of its contractual obligations.” Two days later, Apple restored Epic Developer Account in EU.
“We have long defended the right of stores to exist and compete fairly on iOS and Android, and progress is spreading around the world, in the form of the European DMA, similar laws in the UK and Japan, regulatory investigations around the world, and a victory in the Epic v. Google litigation in the US.
Epic Games bills itself as one of the world’s top video game providers. The company takes a 12% cut of all payments made on the platform. It explains that with these online game stores, there will be no additional fees related to third-party app store fees. In comparison, the largest PC gaming marketplace, Valve’s Steam platform, typically takes 30% of game revenue.
The EU will be the first to bring the Epic Games Store to iOS and Android later this year. The games store will be available on iOS in the UK later this year. second half of 2025.
As a reminder, you don’t necessarily need the Fortnite app to play the game on iPhone or Android. You can stream it via Cloud Gaming on Xbox Or other services like Amazon Luna if you trust your internet speed to handle both streaming and in-game latency.
Are Epic and Big Daddy Sweeney right to be angry? Yes, but only when it comes to a company limited by notoriously high and closed gardens on Android and iOS. But all this infighting hits consumers the hardest. A new player probably won’t know where to go actually to play Fortnite or any other Epic mobile gameUntil Epic finally launches its app store on both ecosystems, many gamers will be stuck sweating in their banana suits, scratching their heads.
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