It seems Epic Games has big plans for its games on mobile, including the removal of Fortnite from the Samsung Galaxy Store and hopping back onto iOS. A recent blog post details the how and the why of what’s going on.
Epic announced that it plans to bring the brand’s mobile games to AltStore, specifically for iOS in Europe. There are also plans to put Epic’s games on “at least” two other third-party stores, instead of the Samsung Galaxy Store and App Store. The focus here is to use stores that give a good deal to all developers, instead of giving better terms to some.
Key games like Fortnite are leaving the Samsung Galaxy Store in protest of recent decisions to block side-loading on Android phones. What this means is that Android devices block the use of third-party sources for downloading software and prioritize official retailers. The Galaxy Fold and Flip 6 are the first phones with this automatically activated, though you can turn it off.
Epic Games’ CEO, Tim Sweeney, has already gone on record about his distaste for Apple and Samsung’s practices, notably calling the App Store out when it denied Epic’s application for a developer account. This was also after he criticized the latest App Store changes back in January.
For a while now, Epic has advocated for the “rights of stores to exist and compete fairly” on both Android and iOS. The movement is making progress across the globe, as the blog post notes Europe’s DMA along with UK and Japanese laws. Let’s not forget the Epic v Google trial back in 2023, either.
We don’t know which other third-party stores Epic has in mind yet, but we’ll update when we do. For now, why not take a look at our picks of the best gaming phones out there and the best OnePlus phones as an alternative to Samsung and Apple?