Alternative App Store: Epic Games Store installed 29 million times so far

Epic Games recorded 29 million installations of its games store by the end of 2024, which is significantly less than the target of 100 million. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney, who is known to have little sympathy for Apple, attributes this primarily to the warnings that Apple displays to iPhone users in the European Union when they want to install an alternative marketplace. According to Epic's findings, half of users would already abandon the project as a result. In five million attempts, users have encountered browser and operating system hurdles.

According to the games manufacturer, 15 steps are required to install the alternative App Store on an iPhone. Google requires three fewer steps. Alternative app stores were only made possible by the laws in the EU. Epic is also pursuing plans to launch its games store in the UK and Japan by the end of 2025. An additional marketing offensive with new games and the assumption of Apple's core technology fee in the EU should make the store even better known.

All-round attack on Apple

The Epic boss also calls it ironic that Apple does not allow alternative app stores in its home country, the USA. This means that Epic, which is also a US company, can currently only compete with Apple in the EU. As is well known, Epic has been in repeated legal battles with Apple for years – over the royalties paid to Apple and the approval of external payment options. In the course of this dispute, Epic's bestseller Fortnite was banned from the iOS app store five years ago.

Epic expects the EU to back its plans to establish its app marketplace more strongly. To do so, it must enforce the provisions of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) against Apple. Investigations are already underway. Among other things, the EU Commission wants to find out whether the core technology fee is a barrier to competition and contradicts the DMA by interviewing app developers.

(mki)