Epic Games mobile store could significantly boost revenues, increase profitability odds

Fortnite-maker Epic Games plans to bring its digital storefront to mobile, and this move should help improve the odds of the store becoming profitable.

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Europe's new Digital Markets Act is helping shake up the video games industry. Apple made $14.8 billion from mobile games in 2022, despite not having released its own games. That money was generated from the 30% fee that Apple takes from mobile developers, which would put App Store mobile game revenues at nearly $50 billion. The EU's new DMA law requires Apple to let developers sell their games and goods directly to iOS users via separate stores, thereby avoiding the 30% revenue sharing "tax."

With the runway cleared, Epic Games is making big moves and intends to launch the Epic Games Store on both Android and iOS sometime in 2024. Epic has secured the support of key third-party partners that could include some of the biggest players in the business. In any case, mobile offers another endpoint for Epic to sell their digital wares--not just another endpoint, but the largest games platform on the market--and should help boost overall revenues and sales on EGS.

It's also possible the mobile Epic Store could help speed up EGS' profitability timeline. Remember that Epic will not have to dole out a 30% commission fee to Apple with the mobile EGS. This means that Epic could reduce prices of its digital goods in an effort to sell more volume, or keep the same prices and potentially make more profit with each purchase/sale.

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As of November 2023, the Epic Store still was not profitable and was operated at a loss. Throughout 2023, Epic also laid off 870 workers in an effort to reduce spending.

Court documents from the Epic v Apple trial show that the Epic Games Store isn't expected to be profitable until 2027 or thereabouts. However, these documents predate the developments of the DMA in the EU, and may not include the more immediate plans of the Epic Store mobile launch.

Through its yearly updates, Epic has outlined the revenue performance of the Epic Games Store, with the digital storefront earning $1.26 billion in total game sales. This value does not include Fortnite microtransactions--these generate many billions of dollars a year.

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