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Continuing its long-running fencing match with Apple, Epic Games has confirmed what everyone suspected – it is bringing a dedicated Epic Games Store app to iOS this year.
The app has been announced on Epic Games Store's X (formerly Twitter) account, and is branded with the inclusion of Android phones, too.
In reality, the situation is a little more complicated on Android, which has already had a form of Epic Games Store that you could download directly from Epic for a while.
We’re coming to iOS and Android!Same fair terms, available to all developers, on a true multi-platform store – with amazing games for everyone. pic.twitter.com/TUKlF8PI8AMarch 20, 2024
However, this would suggest that Epic will have both app stores with feature parity out sometime soon.
The major asterisk attached, though, is for iPhone owners, including those with an iPhone 15, who will need to be in the EU in order for this to apply.
After all, this app store is only possible because of Apple's new compliance with the EU's Digital Markets Act, which has brought in a whole host of regulations for it to abide by where competition is concerned.
This includes the ability for users to download third-party app stores, and apps from sources other than Apple's own App Store.
However, for customers outside the EU, including those in the UK or US, these changes haven't come into place, as Apple isn't pursuing a worldwide rollout.
So, Epic's plans therefore aren't quite as wide-reaching as they sound at first, although in theory the Android app store should be available globally.
Epic has already detailed the cut it'll take from third-party apps and games downloaded through its own app store, too – 12%. This is lower than the 30% cuts that Apple and Google have been demanding for years, although Apple is also adjusting its take-homes after the DMA was enacted.
Regardless, it looks like Apple and Epic's long duel shows no signs of subsiding – we don't have a timeline for the arrival of the new Epic Games Store on mobile, but some reports state that it should arrive in 2024.
It'll be exceedingly interesting to see how well the platform does when it's available. While Fortnite remains one massive ace up its sleeve, whether most iOS and Android users actually want another app store remains to be seen.
