Having successfully made its way onto iOS and Android devices through a combination of ceaseless legal activity and new EU regulations, the Epic Games Store is ready to start tempting users away from Apple and Google’s digital storefronts – and, in news that’s unlikely to surprise anyone, it plans to do so by giving away free games.
Weekly freebies – alongside subsidised sales vouchers and a rewards programme – have long been Epic’s preferred method of attracting customers to its glacially evolving store on PC, after its various exclusivity deals elicited more frustration that jubilation from players. So news that it plans to repeat the strategy on mobile isn’t much of a revelation.
But it’s now been officially confirmed by Epic Games Store general manager Steve Allison, who, speaking during a round table during this week’s Unreal Fest (thanks mobilegamer.biz) explained, “The free games programme will launch in Q4 along with the [first] 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.”
In total, Epic expects to have “between 10 and 50” third-party applications available on its mobile store by this “holiday season”, with Ark: Ultimate Mobile Edition already to confirmed as one of those games. The biggest potential hold-up, according to Allison is “implementing a payment solution, so that may push some of these out into the subsequent months.”