The Epic Games Store debuted on iOS in the European Union and on Android worldwide with Fortnite, Fall Guys and Rocket League Sideswipe included.
The return of Fortnite on iOS in Europe and on Android worldwide is significant for Epic Games as the battle royale game had been unavailable on iPhones since the onset of Epic’s antitrust litigation with Apple and Google in 2020. It’s been an epic journey. You can download Fortnite on iOS or Android here.
In a press briefing, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said the company had spent hundreds of millions of dollars on its legal battle with the platforms to make this happen. But European Union regulations and other antitrust activity around the world ultimately forced the big mobile platforms to let Epic return.
Epic Games also said that it is bringing its games including Fortnite, Falls Guys and Rocket League Sideswipe to the new AltStore — a store started to bring more openness to the games industry.
Today the Epic Games Store is available for download on iPhones in the European Union and on Android devices worldwide. The store is launching with Fortnite, Rocket League Sideswipe and the all-new Fall Guys for mobile, and Epic Games is working to enable all developers to launch their games and apps through the Epic Games Store in the future. (We’ve asked Apple for comment on the allegations against it).
Sweeney gathered a team of spokespeople within Epic and among his allies at Epic Games’ office in Gothenburg, Sweden, to talk to the press about the challenges. Epic opened the office in part due to the Digital Markets Act to give the company a European domicile to give it standing to file complaints.
The Epic Games Store for iPhones in the European Union and Android worldwide
Epic said it will have instructions on how to download and install the Epic Games Store on a mobile device for iOS users and separate instructions for Android users, and you will be able to find more information about first-party games on the Fortnite, Fall Guys and Rocket League Sideswipe blogs.
Fortnite Battle Royale Chapter 5, Season 4: Absolute Doom launches today, which fans will be able to enjoy on mobile and across all other platforms.
Epic’s Sweeney said the company is able to launch on iOS devices in the European Union thanks to the Digital Markets Act, a regulation that went into effect this spring requiring “gatekeeper platforms” to provide fair access to their stores for antitrust reasons. But Sweeney noted Apple is still blocking all other iOS users outside of Europe from accessing Fortnite and Epic Games Store for iOS.
For now, the process of installing the Epic Games Store on iOS and Android is lengthy due to Apple and Google introducing intentionally poor-quality install experiences laden by multiple steps, confusing device settings, and scare screens, Sweeney said. He noted it takes 15 steps on an iPhone before a user can proceed to sideloading on an alternative store.
“We are continuing to fight in courts and work with regulators around the globe to eliminate the anticompetitive terms that Apple and Google impose on developers and consumers, so we can build a better store for everyone,” Epic said.
Fortnite, Rocket League Sideswipe and Fall Guys on third-party app stores
Meanwhile, Epic Games is partnering with third party mobile app stores to bring games to any marketplace offering great terms for all developers.
“We’re starting by launching our games on AltStore today for iOS users in the European Union. We look forward to bringing our games to other stores around the world,” Epic said.
“The tide is turning and the mobile ecosystem is finally opening up to competition. We are grateful to the European Commission for making it possible to launch the Epic Games Store and offer our games to iOS users in the European Union,” Sweeney said. “Now European iOS users and all Android users can access our store and games, as they’ve always been able to do on open platforms like PC and Mac. The fight is far from over, but this is tangible progress for developers and consumers who can begin to benefit from competition and choice.”
The Epic Games Store will be available via epic.download on iOS devices in the European Union and Android devices worldwide.
Fall Guys and Fortnite will be available where Epic Games Store is available on mobile platforms and via AltStore in the European Union.
Rocket League Sideswipe will be available on the Epic Games Store on Android worldwide and iPhones in the EU, as well as AltStore in the EU; it will continue to be available to iOS users via the Apple App Store for non-EU countries. See the blog post for additional details.
The view from the AltStore
AltStore cofounders Riley Testut and Shane Gill said in a press briefing with Epic Games that they struggled with approvals from Apple as they were putting together their new store as an unofficial way to distribute apps.
“It started off this open source tool, and we were running that for a few years, but then, thanks to the Digital Markets Act, we were actually able to take this convoluted Alt Store app and turn it into an official app store app that we launched earlier this year,” Testut said. “Since launch, the reception has been great. We now have several apps in AltStore that have been historically banned from the App Store.”
Gill said he is the other cofounder of the two-person company AltStore and is an indie game developer. The primary focus of AltStore has been to work with indie developers and help them sort out issues they have had with App and its app review process. He noted Apple has “excessive rules and restrictions” on what’s allowed on its store.
He noted that Patreon recently said that Apple will now charge a 30% commission fee on any Patreon purchases on iOS as well as any purchases made in a Patreon creator’s shop. He said that AltStore began as a Patreon project and Patreon integration is built into the AltStore..
“Unlike Apple’s recent announcement, we’re not taking 30% of all the donations you get from Patreon,” Gill said. “We’re not taking anything from that. And we just, we really believe in this concept of promoting indie devs and supporting that community and putting them at the forefront. We just think that a lot of their problems have been overlooked by Apple.”
Testut also noted how onerous Apple’s approval process is for reviewing apps. Apple even reviews apps submitted to the AltStore, especially if any apps promote their alternative stores via the apps in the App Store. Apple claimed this process was about checking security and privacy. But Testut said Apple has taken 30 days to review every single app before it gets distributed to the AltStore.
And twice during these delays, Apple made changes to its own app store rules to allow the apps before Apple approved the apps for the AltStore. In April, Apple amended its App Store rules to allow video game emulators days before AltStore launched game emulators. And last month, after almost three months of review, Apple changed the App Store rules to allow virtual machine apps in the store, before approving the app for AltStore.
“It’s very frustrating, and it makes it impossible to compete on equal grounds,” Testut said. “We’re working with regulators to improve this. We are hopeful this can be easier in the future.”
He added, “We really view all stores like the modern equivalent of like the 1990s shareware mentality. We’re just developers who want to just get their software out there for free and let anyone use it, and we’re just going to keep fighting to make that possible.”
Aptoide complaint
Paolo Trezentos, CEO of Aptoide, runs an app store that has been around on Android for 15 years. The company has worked with 100,000 developers and it has generated more than a million downloads and had more than five million in-app purchases on Android. In June, the company launched a version of its app store for iOS in the name of creating more competition.
“Imagine a world with just one bookstore or one library for the entire world,” Trezentos said in the press briefing. “This would be impossible. And actually, we have two mobile ecosystems with five billion users. We have one app store in each ecosystem. It doesn’t make sense.”
In 2014, Aptoide filed a competition complaint in Brussels against Google, attempting to show the single store is not good for consumers and developers. Trezentos said he contacted more than 500 developers to join its app store on iOS and only about 10 or 11 joined. That was because the friction that Apple introduced in the process, Trezentos said.
“Having Epic and Epic titles like Fortnite in the ecosystem, in the iOS stores, not only the Epic Games Store, but also other app stores, will be a reference and will generate data points for other developers,” Trezentos said. “Then the second reason why is quite important this moment is also because Epic is establishing something that is important. You can have your own app store but still be available in other app stores. And if others, like Microsoft or others follow that path, they have this example, which we believe is really important.”
Lastly, he said this movement toward freedom of app stores will not stop in Europe. He believes it will be adopted in Japan and other countries too.
“What we are discussing here today is really important,” he said.
Epic Games Store
Steve Allison, head of the Epic Games Store, said that much of this got started as Epic Games opened its store years ago to compete on the PC against Valve and its Steam store.
“It’s been quite a wild ride, but it’s been really a good one that’s been successful for us,” Allison said.
He noted the store scaled up to 75 million monthly active users last year. In the meantime, there has been lots of pressure on profit margins for developers.
“It’s really upsetting frankly, for a lot of us, and rough to see, and it’s really satisfying for us to be able to provide more margin for developers and a path to better financial terms,” Allison said.
While Apple and Google mostly take 30% cuts, the Epic Games Store takes only 125 and leave 88% for the developers. The Epic Games Store is also the first app store that allowed alternative payments, starting in 2019.
“If you bring your own payments, which we’re happy to support, for every dollar that you make, you take 100% of that dollar,” Allison said.
Epic lets devs keep 100% of revenue if they opt for exclusivity on the store for the first six months after launch. Epic Rewards gives 5% back on every purchase made on Epic’s payment rails. And there is a free weekly games and content program.
“Everything we do on PC, we’re going to be doing on mobile from the minute we launch and start having third party folks in the store,” he said.
For the store, Epic is having a big moment as it goes from PC and Mac only to include iOS (in Europe) and Android. As you acquire content, you will see it be able to switch seamlessly between the PC and iOS or Android.
“We think this is going to be a really unique, powerful thing, and we’ll be doing all things that we do on PC,” Allison said.
The store will be anchored by Epic’s first-party games. By the end of the year, Epic Games hopes to drive 100 million net new installs of the store across mobile devices.
Still, there are things to be concerned about, Allison said.
“One of the most frustrating and negatively impactful things that will get in the way of our goals of 100 million installs is the friction that we have in our install. So as we look at iOS, it’s just something to step through here. There’s currently a 15-step install that’s really designed [by Apple] from jump to discourage people from getting to the end of it.”
Apple included what Epic calls “scare screens,” Sweeney said, which are messages that tell you might have clicked on an install that could be dangerous or violate your privacy. Then, Allison said, there are dead-end screens, where the process of installing the store just stops.
“The journey continues in this way for about 15 steps,” Allison said. “We don’t need to go through all of them. Needless to say, it’s highly concerning, we expect, because we lived through this on Android. We’ll see a massive drop off. If anything gets in the way of our goals of 100 million installs, this is certainly going to be one of the major impactful things.”
Sweeney has called Apple’s obstructionist strategy “malicious non-compliance” and the EU has registered its complaint.
“We have developer friction and we have user friction, and so the fight just starts Friday, where we have to really continue to work through these major issues that are going to be in front of all of us in the room,” Allison said. “But our vision for the future is we’re going to keep fighting. We’re going to make progress. We are confident that over time, we will get these things eradicated, but we don’t know if it’s going to be two months or two years or longer.”
A timely survey about alternative stores
Sweeney said it’s been “a joy working with regulators to see them restore competition in this market.” Sweeney said that despite the big hurdles Apple has thrown in the way, he believes motivated players will work their way through the 15-step process.
In fact, a survey announced this week by Sanlo, an alternative web shop provider, found that, among 5,050 mobile gamers surveyed, about 81% of people are aware of web shops and 77% have shopped at them. About 90% would shop there again. About 53% are doing so because of discounts and promotions that are available on the web shops and yet are not available on the app stores.
The survey found 45% of players who have made a web shop purchase were aware that Apple and Google take 30% commissions, and 43% of those who have made a web shop purchase feel that is an unfair percentage.
One of the interesting tips Sanlo has: Developers should use in-game promotions and social media to increase awareness and traffic about an off-store web shop. Don’t use clickable hyperlinks in games as that triggers the new platform fees.
Insanely scummy
Apple has instituted new 27% fees on such transactions where players leave its store and go to a web shop to make purchases. Allison said the new fee raised the “walled garden” higher, rather than helping to lower barriers. The Apple install fee on iOS is 50 cents per installed user per year, and that’s billed regardless of whether the user pays money for anything or not, Sweeney said.
“That’s insanely scummy, and we think it’s super illegal under the DMA, and we’re challenging it and the EU is investigating,” Sweeney said. “The effect of that is to dissuade any developer of a current successful game from putting their game on any store that can be used within the iOS App Store.”
Sweeney said that people who want to play Fortnite could be motivated to work their way through the “funnel” of steps that Apple has put in their way.
“Once you get through those steps, once you have the Epic Game Store on your device, getting an app is just like it is on iOS or Android. It’s one or two clicks.”
Sweeney noted developers like Patreon and Spotify were being hit hard by new changes.
Sweeney added, “Apple has been terribly obstructive to us and to everybody else. Every day for the [last few] days Apple has announced major new draconian interventions to worsen the terms of iOS for different developers.”
He added, “We see no letting off of Apple’s malicious compliance strategy at all. As to why they did not obstruct their most recent certification attempts, perhaps it was due to communications from the European Commission….The 15 steps you saw to install the Epic Games Store is a perfect example of that whole malicious compliance and just wanting to obstruct actual competition as much as possible.”
Sweeney noted that Apple could have chosen to make an “awesome” open platform out of iOS, and instead it chose to make it a “horrible” closed platform because they think they can get away with it.
The U.S. law
In the U.S., Epic Games lost its antitrust lawsuit against Apple on all points, except one victory on “anti-steering rules.” Apple’s policies prohibited developers from steering users from its iOS app to its off-store web shops. The court found that this harmed consumers as it meant they didn’t know about lower prices in the web shops, and so it prohibited Apple from enforcing these rules.
But Sweeney said Apple maliciously complied and put more hurdles in the way of transactions where players were trying to move to do business on the web shops. Epic has appealed to the court about the alleged malicious compliance.
Meanwhile, Sweeney said that Epic’s antitrust lawsuit against Google last year was a “total victory” and that case is in its remedy stage. Yet Sweeney complianed that Apple has been obstructing competing stores on iOS in the world outside of Europe, the United Kingdom and Japan.
“That’s really disconcerting. It’s been a massive failure of the United States regulatory and political system that there’s not a crisp, clean action to stop the monopolization occurring in the United States and in the whole world by a U.S. company. That’s been disheartening to see,” Sweeney said.
Sweeney said Epic would continue to fight worldwide, but he foresees being locked out of many markets on iOS across the world. Given the unpredictability in Apple’s review process, it may be hard for Epic to do simultaneous updates for Fortnite across all of its platforms.
Epic is hoping to onboard its first third-party store partners by December. Asked about certain user acquisitions strategies, Allison said that one of the best programs on the PC is giving away free games. That’s why the store has a retention of 70% month over month, and those players convert at a high rate. Giving away free games seems counter intuitive, but it raises a lot of awareness and eventually those players who come in through the free games will make purchases.
“Our plan is to bring that absolutely to Android and iOS,” Allison said.
How much are the costs?
Sweeney was asked how much money Epic Games has spent on this fight.
“As a matter of public record, you could see that we’ve spent hundreds of millions of dollars on on the battle in the combination of legal fees. You saw Apple’s had us at $74 million bill for their legal fees. We had legal fees too. And then there may there’s a lost revenue component associated with Apple blocking Fortnite from the iOS App Store for these last four years. It’s hard to say what that would be because it’s talking about what you know this alternative realities here in the area would be, but it might as well be a billion dollars of lost revenue in four years of Fortnite being off the iOS App Store.”
He added, “But you know, we we see the brightest days for Epic and the game industry as a whole as coming in the future. And you know, there’s really no price that isn’t worth paying for freedom for all developers in the future of gaming. Apple literally collects tens of millions of dollars of these junk fees as a result of not allowing competing stores and payment processors on iOS.”
Sweeney said, “If we spent a billion dollars so far, it’s a small price to pay for the future freedom of our company and of all the others who want to participate in the market. And I think it’s important to realize the state of dysfunction that exists in the mobile gaming business as a result of these taxes. No game developer has a other than a few companies for a few years at the apex of their absolute histories of hits. No developer makes a 30% profit margin. So if Apple and Google will take these 30% fees off of the top, the effect is developers have to raise their prices to cover the fees. Raising the prices reduces demand.”
Sweeney reiterated that the entire game industry is in a suppressed state compared to what would be if there were free and open competition among stores. Developers would make a lot more money.
“If we reintroduce competition, then the market will sort all of this out, and we’ll have a much better position for gaming. Matthew Ball recently tweeted about Roblox’s P&L, analyzing and realizing that Apple makes more profit from Roblox than typical Roblox creators make from their own work. And Apple was making enormous profits from Roblox, while Roblox is actually losing money on their app, because the economics just don’t support a stratified ecosystem.”
In short, Sweeney said the mobile gaming business is largely broken. There’s a “dearth of awesome games” at the top of the charts, and UA arbitrage is leading to casino games and “super greedy” pay-to-win games and loot box games leading the categories.
“That’s a result of the dysfunction that arises from the many forms of malpractice of App Store practices, the taxes, but also the marketing and promotional strategies and the data strategies and so on,” he said.
Bringing competition to the mobile stores would probably help Apple compete better and ultimately be a better company and make more money, Sweeney said, if the dysfunctions were removed.
Are the delay tactics working?
I asked whether the regulators were keeping up with the legal tactics being used by Apple to allegedly slow down compliance with tougher regulations. And I asked if alternative web shop providers were making an impact on the market yet.
“The European Commission deserves major credit for writing a law and rules for the gatekeepers that genuinely have teeth and have sufficient clarity to bar bad practices,” Sweeney said. “It’s very clear now that Apple’s malicious compliance is is contravening EU law in many ways, and the regulators were very speedy to call out Apple when they had clear cases of violations of rules.”
Sweeney said regulators had begun investigations into Apple’s malicious non-compliance.
“Those findings are going to have teeth. Apple faces 10% of their global annual turnover as fees or penalties for their first act of major non compliance, and 20% for their second and 5% billed daily for ongoing compliance. Apple is doing this malicious non-compliance thing at their own peril.”
He said their strategy is to wear down the regulators while “simultaneously lobbying all their opposition politicians in hopes of finding friendly politicians to replace the regulators in the United States.”
He noted that when Google maliciously complied with similar regulations in the Google Play store in South Korea, the regulators allowed it to institute “junk fees” and the regulators walked away.
“I think the European example shows that this kind of regulation can have teeth and can succeed,” Sweeney said.
As for the web shops being created for individual companies like Activision to sell Call of Duty on mobile, Sweeney said some developers have found success there where 95% of every dollar goes back to the developers when using alternative web shops. Some developers are moving 50% of their revenue into these alternative paths, Sweeney said. But so far only 15% of the top 250 mobile game companies have moved to the web shops made by Coda or Xsolla and others.
“App store competition doesn’t have to fit the Apple App Store and Google Play mode,” Sweeney said.
There are plenty of apps that are distributed by stores in China, or major distributors like WeChat.
“Every social media platform could distribute apps and become an app store itself, if Apple rules didn’t prevent them from doing that as well,” Sweeney said. “There’s lots and lots of different ways that you just could develop if it were a genuinely competitive market and the Apple and Google restrictions were removed. It doesn’t have to be just a dozen carbon copies of the Google Play Store model.”
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