- At a talk during GDC, EGS general manager Steve Allison confirmed the service was coming to mobile before the end of the year
- Epic has been slugging it out with Apple and Google for a few years now
- But is the Epic Games Store really going to be a slam-dunk?
The Epic Games mobile store will be coming to iOS and Android by the end of the year, it has been revealed. At the Game Developers Conference, during the State of Unreal talk, Epic Games Store general manager Steve Allison spoke about how the company had been slugging it out with Apple and Google. It seems this has paid off for them however, as the company is now set to bring the Epic Games Store to iOS and Android by the end of 2024.
The change is partially fuelled by both the outcome of the Epic v Apple case and by changes to legislation in markets like the EU. In layman’s terms, Apple and Google (mainly the former) have been ordered to allow competing storefronts on their devices. This is because blocking either the integration of new app stores or alternative payment methods (i.e. not using Apple’s in-built services) has been judged as ‘anti-trust’ or essentially anti-competitive.
An Epic Win?
The ‘State of Unreal’ talk at GDC 2024 reveals what Epic Games are up to for devs and industry insiders
Assuming this all goes according to plan, which in the case of Epic v Apple it scarcely has, we could see the EGS arrive on our smartphones by the end of the year if not sooner. However, even with this victory, Epic is going to still have a challenge on its hands. While Sweeney has often swung hard at Apple and Google, he’s been far less successful swaying players on PC to the side of the Unreal Engine titan. Steam still rules the roost, with more monthly users and an arguably more feature-rich storefront, while CD Projekt Red-owned Good Old Games has carved itself out a prominent niche as a proponent of indie and retro games.
Not only that, but it won’t just be Epic taking advantage of a new, more open mobile ecosystem, third-party storefronts have already been cropping up on Android for years. With that in mind, while we’ve mostly talked about how Apple will need to adapt to this changing landscape, we’re not too certain that Epic can afford any victory laps at this point. At least not until mobile gamers are convinced about what benefits the EGS can offer.
Do you think the Epic Games Store is something you’re going to use on mobile? Why? Or why not for that matter? Let us know in the comments!
