Epic Games submits its EU store, 'Fortnite' for final notarization

Epic Games has submitted "Fortnite" and the Epic Games Store to Apple for final notarization, in one of the last steps Epic needs to take to launch its iOS storefront in Europe.

Epic Games is getting extremely close to its final goal of opening up its rival to the App Store in Europe. Following its famed legal battle, Epic's now working on the final elements to bring its dream to a reality.

On Monday, Epic announced that it had made a number of submissions to Apple for "final notarization." The list of apps include the Epic Games Store, the company's attempt at a third-party digital storefront.

At the same time, it submitted two of its games for notarization. Fortnite, the game that triggered Epic's legal drama with payment method changes, is accompanied by Rocket League Sideswipe, a version of its car-soccer game.

Epic's announcement also asks followers to "Stay tuned for the launch of the Epic Games Store on iOS in Europe soon."

The notarization of the Epic Games Store hasn't been smooth sailing for all involved.

In July, Epic claimed Apple was dragging its heels over the Epic Games Store notarization, with Apple objecting to a few button designs in the app. Following the public complaint, Apple greenlit the Epic Games Store, adding that while it would let the buttons slide for the submission, Epic must fix them for future submissions.

While Epic will be offering Fortnite and Rocket League via its Epic Games Store, it won't be the only way to play the games. Epic is also planning to use other storefronts, including AltStore, to distribute Fortnite.

7 Comments

apple4thewin 3 Years · 321 comments

About 4 months ago

Interesting 🤔 let’s see what stops them this time

danox 11 Years · 3442 comments

Sweeney Todd is going to poke the tiger……

hammeroftruth 16 Years · 1356 comments

That would be hilarious if they took all this time to make an alternative store and the general public moved on. I guess they’re going to find out how expensive it is to build and maintain an App Store and could end up like the Microsoft store when they thought they could copy Apple’s retail ideas and be successful.

mpantone 18 Years · 2254 comments

hammeroftruth said:

That would be hilarious if they took all this time to make an alternative store and the general public moved on. I guess they’re going to find out how expensive it is to build and maintain an App Store and could end up like the Microsoft store when they thought they could copy Apple’s retail ideas and be successful.

Uh, Epic already has a pretty good idea of how much effort it takes to run an app store: they have several on other platforms including Windows PC, macOS, and Android.

The main points of contention are A.) Apple's 30% cut on the iOS App Store and B.) the inability to offer third-party payment options to users. Everything goes through the iOS App Store and Apple takes their pound of flesh.

Presumably they are trying to release their own with payment options that allow them to dodge Apple's 30% cut, at least in the EU (per their DMA). It will be interesting to see if users in other markets will be able to transact on the Epic Games Store app with the 30% cut going back to Apple.

Other DMA related changes are also restricted to EU users. If an American goes on a two-week holiday to Europe and tries to take advantage of the DMA-enabled changes, it won't work, the payment information/billing address needs to be EU. There are always some dodgy or laborious ways to skirt these controls but the casual app shopper isn't going to go out of their way to do any of this just to save a few bucks or give the app store cut to Company B rather than Apple itself.

The DMA has been very disruptive to the iOS walled garden and not just to Epic Games. It appears that Apple Intelligence may end up being stunted in the EU. Currently there is no planned release date for Apple Intelligence in the EU. The day it releases it will likely be a US-only service. It will likely expand to other markets before it hits the EU (in whatever condition).

hammeroftruth said:

That would be hilarious if they took all this time to make an alternative store and the general public moved on. I guess they’re going to find out how expensive it is to build and maintain an App Store and could end up like the Microsoft store when they thought they could copy Apple’s retail ideas and be successful.

We will see how well this Disney collab goes but i know many players were leaving up until chapter 4 season 5/OG and then it went downhill again during this summer season. Since chapter 5 season 4 is a marvel themed season and will lead to the new Disney mode/world; hype may come back