This summer, Epic Games finally got its wish when it launched its own digital storefront on iOS and Android thanks to new EU regulations. And ahead of the launch, the company announced it would remove Fortnite and other Epic games from competing stores that it called “rent-free,” “even if those stores offer us special deals for our own games.”
In the announcement post, Epic first confirmed that developers selling games on its new mobile store would be charged the same 12% fee as on its PC digital storefront (0% if the developer uses a third-party payment system). It then revealed plans to remove its own games from some competing stores. Specifically, it said it would “end distribution partnerships with mobile stores that act as rent collectors without competing vigorously and serving all developers fairly, even when those stores offer us special deals on our own games.”
It is also removing Fortnite and its other titles from the Samsung Galaxy Store, in what it called “a protest against Samsung’s anti-competitive decision to block third-party installations by default” on its devices. Epic, by contrast, said it plans to bring its own mobile games to stores that “offer great deals to all developers.” One of those will be the indie-focused AltStore.
The reason for all this, it asserted, is that “we want to do everything we can to support other stores that are trying to offer great deals to all developers.” Of course, it also probably helps that by moving its games from major competing stores to smaller ones, Epic has all but guaranteed that most of Fortnite’s mobile traffic will come through its own store, where it won’t have to pay a percentage of sales.
Epic has been fighting to get back on iOS since Fortnite was cut off from Apple’s ecosystem in 2020, when Epic deliberately bypassed contractual App Store payment mechanisms in its Fortnite iOS app. Efforts to overturn Apple’s decision through legal means have largely been unsuccessful in the US, with courts ruling in Apple’s favor over time. However, the EU’s Digital Markets Act now gives the Fortnite maker a way to get back on its feet – at least in the EU.
The Epic Games Store is scheduled to launch on iOS in the EU and Android worldwide later this year. Epic also said it would bring Fortnite and its store to iOS in the UK in the “second half of 2025.” However, that announcement may be a bit premature, as there’s still a lot to be determined around the UK’s new Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Act.
