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Epic Games, the developer of Fortnite, launched its own app store on Friday, allowing users to bypass the stores run by Apple and Google.
The Epic Games Store is available to Android smartphone users worldwide, and iPhone and iPad users in Europe.
The store's opening comes after Epic waged a legal battle to lobby regulators to ease restrictions from Apple and Google on the sale of apps for phones that run their operating systems.
A new EU law known as the Digital Markets Act (DMA) has forced Apple to open up to app developers in Europe, but the company has not taken similar steps elsewhere.
“We're thrilled that Europe's new DMA laws mean we're on the brink of releasing our games on iOS and Android,” Epic CEO Tim Sweeney said at a press conference at the company's offices in Sweden.
Fortnite is also making a comeback on iPhone and iPad after being banned in 2020 for attempting to circumvent Apple's payment system.
To attract app developers to its store, Epic offers them more favorable revenue-sharing terms than Apple and Google.
But Epic argued that Apple and Google make it hard for developers to work with them because their app stores have lengthy and opaque installation processes.
Epic has a goal of 100 million app store installs on Android and iOS devices by the end of the year, and “the only thing standing in our way is the friction that Apple and Google bring, and it's significant,” said Steve Allison, head of the Epic Games Store.
In addition to Fortnite, the store also has Rocket League Sideswipe available, as well as Fall Guys, which is coming to mobile for the first time.
“This is just the beginning of a long journey to get our games back on every platform around the world. The fight isn't over until Fortnite is back on iOS everywhere, free from Apple's tax,” Sweeney said.
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