Epic Plans To Launch Second Free Games Program, This Time For Mobile Devices

Epic has revealed more details about how it intends to attract developers to its recently launched mobile store. The company plans to draw in more mobile game developers with self-publishing tools, a free games program, and reduced commission fees for studios using the Unreal Engine to develop their games.

“In the holiday season we’ll open up with our first third-party applications,” Epic Games Store general manager Steve Allison said after the Unreal Fest Seattle event (via Mobile Gamer Biz). “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.”

Allison added that Epic plans to launch a free mobile games program by the end of the year to help grow the storefront, alongside social features, cross-platform play, and other “awesome stuff” for both users and developers. “The free games program will launch in Q4 along with the third-party apps showing up, and we’re gonna have some awesome stuff for players that will also be awesome for developers because it’ll help us scale really quickly,” Allison explained.

Epic currently offers free games every week through the Epic Games Store, a service that it has been running for several years now. The company has also regularly voiced its disapproval of Google and Apple, criticizing the tech giants for their business practices. Epic’s plans to build and release its own app store on iOS–and thus sidestepping Apple’s 30% platform fee–were delayed after Apple terminated its developer account, but the company made a return in Europe in August.

Thanks to European Union regulation and the new Digital Markets Act, Epic launched its app on iPhones in the European Union and on Android devices worldwide.