Epic Games is gearing up to offer free mobile games on its platform later this year in a bid to compete with the Google Play Store’s dominance. Known for popular titles like Fortnite and *Fall Guys*, the company made the announcement during the Unreal Fest event in Seattle, revealing plans to expand its successful free game program to mobile users. Additionally, Epic Games intends to start offering free third-party games on its mobile store.
Since its launch in 2018, the Epic Games Store has attracted PC gamers by giving away free games weekly, and now mobile gamers can look forward to similar benefits. During a roundtable at Unreal Fest, Epic Games' general manager, Steve Allison, disclosed plans to release up to 50 mobile games by the end of the year, with Ark: Ultimate Mobile Edition being among the first, as reported by mobilegamer.biz. However, Allison also mentioned that the launch might experience a slight delay due to ongoing work on a "payment solution," potentially pushing the rollout back a few months.
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Allison said, “In the holiday season, we’ll open up with our first third-party applications. We probably expect somewhere between 10 and 50 of them to be ready, and the biggest thing is just going to be implementing a payment solution, so that may push some of these out into the subsequent months.”
Epic Games To Improve Cross Platform Compatibility
In addition to offering third-party games on the Epic Games Store, the company is working on features that will enhance multiplayer experiences across different platforms. This includes in-game chat and cross-platform compatibility, allowing users to collaborate and play together seamlessly, similar to the functionality found in the PC versions.
Epic Games also announced the development of "self-publishing" tools, which would give developers the ability to launch their own games on the platform without needing direct approval or communication with the company.