Epic's game store is finally on mobile devices. Next, the company plans to add features that will make people want to use it, both on mobile and mobile devices. and PERSONAL COMPUTER.
One key element Epic Games wants to introduce is what store boss Steve Allison calls a “social framework” – think of the types of social and chat features you see on consoles or Steam.
“Our social functions at PC suck,” says Allison in an interview with The edge. “Let's call it what it is.” Social characteristics are the “battery that powers fortnite” says Allison, and Epic wants to “take that battle-tested social framework and improve it from fortnite to the store level.” The idea is that you can form groups and chat with your Epic Games friends across devices, which in theory means that all friends on Android, iOS and PC could hang out through the Epic Games platform (not just fortnite).
We may have to wait a bit to test out the social features, however, as Allison says they won't arrive until at least after summer 2025.
More immediately, Epic plans to bring its free games program to mobile devices sometime in the fourth quarter (which, if you're looking at the calendar, is this quarter!). Unlike PC, free mobile games may not be offered weekly at first, although they will likely move to weekly. once Epic launches self-publishing tools on its mobile store. (That feature will likely launch in the first half of 2025, Allison said in a Tuesday panel at Unreal Fest.) Some free games may only be available on Android due to Apple's core technology fee, which could hurt developers with costs they may not be able to pay.
Third-party games will also appear on the mobile Epic Games Store in the fourth quarter (Allison had previously set the launch for December). During the Unreal Fest panel, Allison said that Epic aims to have between 10 and 50 games available at launch. Yes, that's a wide range, and Allison says The edge that the great “determining factor” is the implementation of payments. Since most mobile developers rely on Google or Apple payment processing platforms, they should evaluate using Epic or other payment processing platforms. However, during the Unreal Fest keynote, Epic shared a game that will be coming to its mobile stores: ARK: Ultimate Mobile Edition.
Epic appears to be seeing momentum in the store overall, announcing during the keynote that it hit a record 70 million monthly active users in September. However, given the obstacles that Apple and Android phone makers have put in place to install third-party stores on their mobile platforms, Epic is not seeing the volume of mobile store installations that it expected.
At the launch of mobile stores in August, Allison said Epic was targeting 100 million net new mobile installs of the Epic Games Store by the end of the year, but Sweeney recently said there have only been 10 million mobile installs. Allison believes new features coming in the fourth quarter could encourage more users to overcome friction. But he adds that, with friction, reaching those 100 million installations by the end of the year “will probably be impossible.”
