The Epic Games Store Will Launch On Mobile Devices

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has big plans for its video game distribution platform, the Epic Games Store. One of these plans is to bring the digital launcher to Android and iOS devices in the future.

In an interview that kicked off GameSpot's Play For All summer gaming event, Sweeney spoke about the EGS's success, the difficulties releasing a competitor to the massively popular Steam, how cross-play can be a boon for the industry, and much more. During the interview, we asked Sweeney if he had any goals for the EGS in the future, which is when he brought up mobile devices.

"We'd like to bring the [Epic Games] Store to iOS in the future, and we will bring it to Android," Sweeney said. "We think it's a good way to help the industry [move] forward and it's another way where Epic as a game developer had built up this audience around Fortnite and learned how to operate a distribution platform on PC and Android.

"Now, as we've done with many things from the Unreal Engine to the Epic Online services, we open it up to all other developers to use with their games and are trying to serve the industry and provide a really interesting alternative to the ecosystem."

This isn't the company's first discussion of bringing the EGS to mobile devices, particularly Android phones. In a December 2018 interview with Game Informer, Sweeney talked about bringing the digital distributor to "PC and Mac in 2018, and Android later in 2019," with iOS supposedly following in 2019 as well. While 2019 has come and gone, Epic and Sweeney still seem interested in launching the EGS on mobile devices.

The EGS coming to mobile devices may already be in the works, as the Fortnite launcher received an update in October 2019 for Android devices. Now, instead of just handling Fortnite updates and such, the launcher has become the official Epic Games App. The launcher does not exist in Apple's App Store at the moment.

In related Epic Games Store news, this week's freebie is Borderlands: The Handsome Collection. Available until June 4 at 8 AM PT / 11 AM ET, you can download the collection--which contains Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, as well as every piece of DLC for both games--at no charge.