Epic Games Inc., developer of the popular Fortnite shooter title, is adding third-party games to its new mobile marketplace, escalating a long, costly dispute with Apple Inc. and Google over their app-store fees.
The company said Thursday that these titles represent the first batch of mobile games from outside developers to appear on the Epic Games Store, and will include games played on Google Android devices globally and Apple iOS devices in Europe. Some will be free to play.
Epic Games’ mobile store debuted in August with its own products, including titles like Fortnite and Rocket League. Founder and CEO Tim Sweeney said in a meeting with reporters that the company has invested more than $1 billion (roughly Rs. 8,626 crores) in its digital storefront for video games and mobile apps.
“We are spending more money every year than we are making because we choose to invest in growth,” he said.
Sweeney has been fighting in the courts and the marketplace since 2020 to lift the hold on mobile apps held by Apple and Alphabet Inc.’s Google. Although the company has wrested some concessions from the technology leaders, fans are still struggling to get Epic Games Store downloads from devices that use their software.
“Apple and Google are making it really difficult,” Sweeney said. “We had set a target of 100 million installs with first-party games. We knew it would be really difficult. We ended up at 30 million.”
Sweeney blames obstacles created by companies, including pop-ups and other disruptions.
In 2023, a federal appeals court in California ruled mostly in Apple’s favor on Epic’s allegations that the iPhone maker had an App Store monopoly. However, Apple was asked to open its App Store to external payment options. Epic won an antitrust case against Google.
Apple and Google stand to collect an estimated $23 billion (roughly Rs. 1,98,384 crore) in 2023 from a 30 percent cut of App Store sales, according to a report by Matthew Ball, CEO of investment advisory firm Appillion.
“Store fees deprive developers of much-needed margin for reinvestment,” Ball said. “Their control has also hindered the development of new experiences and business models that could restore growth and/or create new genres and companies.”
Sweeney, whose desktop and mobile stores charge a 12 percent commission, calls the Apple and Google App Stores “the greatest abuse of market power in modern history.”
Epic said, so far, none of the 100 highest-grossing mobile game developers are willing to offer titles on the Epic Games Store due to Apple’s core technology fees and other restrictions imposed by the companies.
Under Apple’s Core Technology Fee, the most popular mobile games may be subject to download fees when a developer chooses to distribute them on alternative app stores. To ease the burden, Epic will cover the cost of all titles from developers participating in the Epic Games Store free games program on iOS or iPadOS devices.
“The term for spending more money than you earn when you have a good business is ‘investment,'” Sweeney said.
© Thomson Reuters 2025
