Epic Games launches program to pay App Store fees on behalf of developers of free iOS games

Epic Games, which operates the Epic Games Store, plans to launch a program to distribute free games for Android and iOS on the Epic Games Store. For this program, Epic Games has declared that it will pay the 'fees that developers would otherwise have to pay to Apple' on behalf of developers.

Epic will expand its mobile game store by helping cover developer iOS fees - The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2025/1/23/24349542/epic-games-third-party-developers-apple-google-europe

Epic Games engaged in a large-scale legal battle with Apple and Google after Apple criticized the in-app purchases in 'Fortnite'. Although Epic Games' lawsuit was almost completely dismissed in August 2023, Epic Games won the trial against Google in December 2023. Then, in January 2024, Apple decided to allow non-App Store payments and sideloading only within the EU.

Apple allows sideloading and payments outside the App Store in the EU following the Digital Markets Act, but tougher conditions and new fees are added - GIGAZINE

As a result of this, Epic Gameshas launched its own Epic Games Store on Android and iOS (EU only), enabling it to sell and distribute games.

However, Apple imposes certain restrictions on the sale and distribution of apps through third-party app stores. In particular, Apple's imposition of a Core Technology Fee (CTF) on iOS apps distributed through third-party app stores, which requires developers to pay 0.5 euros (about 80 yen) for each install after the first 1 million installs, has become a hot topic.

Apple's 'core technology fee' of about 80 yen per install for iOS apps could bankrupt developers of free and freemium apps - GIGAZINE

Epic Games has strongly criticized the CTF from the beginning, stating that 'Even if a developer decides to list only one game on the Epic Games Store, if their app is downloaded more than 1 million times per year, they will have to pay a fee every time their game is downloaded to an iPhone or iPad, whether from the Apple App Store or another store.'

Now, Epic Games has declared that if it becomes necessary to pay CTF fees to distribute free games on the Epic Games Store, Epic Games will cover the CTF fees on behalf of free game developers for one year.

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney told The Verge, an IT news site, 'Epic Games will lose money on CTF payments, but we need to break the deadlock. This will be financially unviable in the long term for all third-party app stores and for Epic Games, but we will do so while the European Commission is investigating Apple's violations of law.'

'The absurd irony is that Epic Games can only fully compete on an equal footing with the App Store in the EU. They're blocked in the US. And in the US, US citizens can't get Fortnite for iOS because Apple is blocking it. That's ridiculous, isn't it? This needs to change, and it will change,' Sweeney told The Verge.