Epic Games has disclosed that its video game, “Fortnite,” will soon be available on Apple’s iOS systems in the European Union, marking a significant development in the company’s legal conflict with Apple, Reuters news report said.
Epic Games, headquartered in Cary, North Carolina, has been striving to broaden the distribution of its video games beyond the official app stores of smartphone companies, challenging the high commissions on in-app payments and the restrictions on downloading applications exclusively through dedicated stores.
Epic also revealed that its video games will be withdrawn from the Samsung Galaxy Store. This decision protests Samsung’s policy to block default side-loading, which refers to installing applications on a mobile device without using its dedicated app store, a practice Epic deems “anticompetitive.”
Epic says this is in protest of Samsung’s decision to block side-loading by default on Samsung Android devices, and as a result of public revelations in the US Epic v Google lawsuit of ongoing Google proposals to Samsung to restrain competition in the market for Android app distribution.
Epic Games Store will also be coming to Android worldwide bringing all developers great terms: a store fee of 12 percent for payments it processes, and 0 percent on third party payments.
Epic Games has over 800 million accounts and over 6 billion friend connections across Fortnite, Fall Guys, Rocket League, and the Epic Games Store. Its first-party games include Fortnite Battle Royale, LEGO Fortnite, Rocket Racing, and Fortnite Festival.
Epic also announced that its mobile games would soon be available on AltStore, a third-party iOS store in the EU that facilitates side-loading. Furthermore, Epic will extend “support” to at least two other third-party stores.
The Epic Games Store, Epic’s digital marketplace, is also set to launch on Android devices globally and on iOS in the European Union. The company did not provide a specific timeline for this rollout.
Earlier in July, Apple approved the Epic Games marketplace app for iPhones and iPads in Europe, following Epic’s dispute with the tech giant. Apple is also under antitrust scrutiny regarding its App Store practices, with EU competition regulators stating in June that Apple violates the Digital Markets Act’s regulations.
