After successfully getting Fortnite reinstated on iOS through the App Store in the US and the Epic Games Store in the European Union, Epic Games’ plans to follow either of these paths in the UK has hit a regulatory dead end.
Epic has posted a blog update expressing disappointment with the CMA, the competition regulator for the UK, after its roadmap included no plan to open the mobile landscape for alternative app stores like the Epic Game Store. “Four years after concluding that the App Store and Google Play Store are parallel monopolies the CMA has done nothing to allow competing stores,” Epic says.
According to Epic, the CMA has “deprioritized store competition entirely, to be considered sometime in 2026.” It references the EU’s Digital Markets Act as a benchmark for allowing alternative app stores on mobile devices, citing a number of alternative stores that have sprung up in Europe including AltStore, Aptoide, and its own Epic Games Store.
“The CMA also made a vague announcement about allowing developers to steer customers to payment service outside of apps, without referencing the kinds of restrictions, obstructions and junk fees that Apple introduced in Europe to make a mockery of the Digital Markets Act,” Epic’s statement continues. “Unless Apple and Google are completely blocked from imposing fees and discriminating against apps using out-of-app payment, we can expect years of malicious compliance ahead.”
Epic again references one of its previous legal battles here, saying that the recent US court order against Apple has set the standard by outlawing all fees and obstructions on apps that choose to direct customers to external payment services.
“Today’s bleak news from the United Kingdom contrasts to the stronger pro-competition actions of other regions,” Epic concludes, though the company will no doubt continue to put pressure on the CMA to introduce stronger antitrust laws targeting Apple and Google. Outside of its victories in Europe and the US, Epic says that the Epic Games Store will also be launched in Brazil and Japan later this year.
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