Epic Games Store will soon charge through Apple’s efforts to mitigate the downloading of apps from third-party marketplaces to iOS and iPadOS — namely, Apple’s Core Technology Fee. Epic will add 19 third-party titles to its mobile store in the European Union, the region impacted by the fee policy. It’ll also offer free games on the mobile store each month for now, and later will switch to a schedule of free games each week — and Epic will pay the CTF for those free games for one year. The CTF policy dictates that Apple charge a steep per-download fee — 50 cents in Euros — for every download of a game from a third-party store after 1 million downloads.
Epic launched its mobile store for Apple and Android in August 2024, with the Apple store only available in the EU due to the Digital Markets Act there, which prevents monopoly by enforcing market competition. Other publishers and marketplaces, like Steam and PlayStation, are able to list their apps on the Apple App Store because the apps don’t include any downloading of games via their apps — rather, some apps allow you to stream your games from the cloud and others function solely as a way to manage other assets from your account, like screenshots. It’s not just Apple that seeks to lock down app sales — Epic Games Store also doesn’t meet the requirements for Google’s Play Store due to its global policy prohibiting third-party stores.
The Verge also reported that Epic’s statements in a Thursday press briefing argued “many mobile game developers aren’t on its store because Apple and Google discourage them with restrictions and fees.”
As for the 19 new third-party games, Epic has clarified the full list of games, including Dungeon of the Endless: Apogee and There Is No Game. A post on Epic’s X (formerly Twitter) account Thursday said it’s run into “a few bugs that we’re working through now,” which have since been addressed — all 20 games are now available on mobile in any region where the mobile app exists.
Here’s the full list of games:
viraltrendingcontent has contacted Apple for comment and has not yet heard back. We’ll update the story when we learn more.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated which fees Epic will pay on behalf of developers. It has been updated to reflect the accurate fee payment plan for its monthly and weekly free games.
Update (1/24): This story has been updated to include the full list of third-party games, and that these games are available now. A previous version also stated that Epic would offer 20 new third-party games. Epic has clarified that the correct number of new third-party games is 19.
