Epic Games Ramps Up Apple, Google Fight With Third-Party Game Titles

Epic Games Inc., developer of the popular Fortnite shooter title, is adding games from third parties to its new mobile marketplace, stepping up a long, costly dispute with Apple Inc. and Google over their app-store fees.

The titles represent the first batch of mobile games from outside developers to appear on the Epic Games Store, the company said Thursday, and will include ones 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, titles such as Fortnite and Rocket League. The company has invested more than $1 billion (roughly Rs. 8,626 crore) in its digital storefront for video games and mobile apps, founder and Chief Executive Officer Tim Sweeney said in a meeting with reporters.

“We're spending more money than we're making every year because we choose to invest in growth,” he said.

Sweeney has been battling in the courts and the marketplace since 2020 to shake the hold over mobile apps held by Apple and Alphabet Inc.'s Google. While the company has wrung some concessions from the technology leaders, fans still struggle to download the Epic Games Store from devices that use their software.

“Apple and Google are making this really hard,” Sweeney said. “We had a goal of 100 million installs with first-party games. We knew that would be really hard. We ended up at 30 million.”

Sweeney blames impediments thrown up by the companies, including pop-ups and other deterrents.

In 2023, a federal appeals court in California ruled mostly in favor of Apple on allegations by Epic that the iPhone maker's app store was a monopoly. However, Apple was asked to open up its App Store to outside payment options. Epic won an antitrust case against Google.

Apple and Google collected an estimated $23 billion (roughly Rs. 1,98,384 crore) in 2023 from the 30 percent cut they take from app store sales, according to a report from Matthew Ball, CEO of the investment advisory firm Epyllion.

“The stores' fees deprive developers of much-needed margin for reinvestment,” Ball said. “Their controls have also impeded the development of new experiences and business models that might restore growth and/or create new genres and companies.”

Sweeney, whose desktop and mobile store charges a 12 percent commission, calls the Apple and Google app stores “the biggest abuse of market power in modern history.” 

So far, Epic said, none of the 100 highest-grossing mobile game developers has been willing to offer titles on the Epic Games Store because of Apple's Core Technology Fee and other restrictions imposed by the companies.

Under Apple's Core Technology Fee, the most popular mobile games may be subject to a download fee when a developer opts to distribute them on an alternative app store. To ease the burden, Epic will cover the cost for all titles from developers that participate in the Epic Games Store's free games program on iOS or iPadOS devices.

“The word for spending more money than you're making when you have a great business underneath is ‘investment,'” Sweeney said.

© Thomson Reuters 2025

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