It's Already Worth Downloading the Mobile Epic Games Store

Epic has a mobile games store, after suing both Apple and Google for the right to make one. You can install that store today. I have, and for good reason.

Google Play Has Failed At Its Job

Android has a large selection of great mobile games, but I wouldn't blame you for not knowing about them. Even though most of us download our Android games from the Play Store, it's not because Google makes them easy to find. You have to hit up third-party sites to find the good stuff, while Google Play showcases precisely the games that have given mobile gaming a bad name.

This is because Google has every incentive to support the worst trends in gaming. Google likes games with ads. Google makes a bunch of its money through in-app purchases and virtual microcurrencies. Pay-to-win mechanics may be atrocious, but it's good for Google's bottom line. The more intrusive a game's monetization is, the more money Google stands to make. Google simply does not have reason to push the market to make the kind of high-quality mobile games that you buy upfront and own forever, especially since mobile gamers early on showed they weren't interested in paying as much for a phone game as they would for a console one.

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The Play Store Needs Competition

Android phone makers feel compelled to ship their phones with the Play Store preinstalled, since that's where people can find the majority of Android apps and games. Yet other stores are allowed to exist on Android in a way that, outside of the EU, they can't on iOS. Despite this, none has ever truly been able to compete with the Play Store.

That doesn't mean a store built specifically around mobile games can't catch on. How many of us would love to see a version of Steam that could also install Android versions of our PC games? Many of Android's best games are ports that appeared on PCs first, including many of the games I play on my foldable phone. The Epic Game Store may not be as large as Steam on PCs, but it can serve that role on phones.

The Epic Games Store mobile app may be available for both Android and iOS (the latter only in the EU), but Android needs it more. Apple has made efforts to encourage game developers to target iPhones exclusively, and you can find excellent games through Apple Arcade as a result. Meanwhile, Google has let Android gamers down. While I do think Google Play Pass is a good deal, it just doesn't compare.

Epic can be the place where you know you can find quality curated games that aren't delivering exploitative, copycat shovelware. Even if many of the games that appear in Epic's store are also available in the Play Store, Epic can make these games discoverable in a way Google does not. You may stumble across a game on Epic's store that, in the Play Store, you might never know existed.

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Even if the Epic Store doesn't become dominant, and even if it fails to last longer than a couple of years, at least the competition could encourage Google to do better. This is a chance for gamers to show that we want someone, anyone, to show up and make the effort.

​These Are Early Days for Epic's Store

I've installed the Epic Games Store on my Galaxy Z Fold 6. The interface has flair, but it's also very basic. Like, extremely so. You can browse for games, view screenshots, and get basic information about each title. There's a buy button, which does successfully install games to your device.

That said, plenty of expected, arguably essential, functionality is missing. You can't yet leave a comment or write a review. More strikingly, you can't even yet search for specific titles. The selection right now is small enough that the latter isn't yet an issue, but it absolutely will need to change as the library expands. Presumably, it will once the store is no longer a few months old.

Still, you can already get a taste for the kind of experience Epic might deliver. Just by browsing, I've already come across a couple of games I hadn't heard of but want to play, such as The Forest Quartet and Figment.

Epic Gives Away Free Mobile Games

In practical terms, why should you download the mobile version of the Epic Games Store today? Well, like the Epic store on PCs, Epic is giving away free games. That's what got me through the door. At the time of writing, you can currently download Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic and Knights of the Old Republic II. These are well-reviewed, critically acclaimed titles that have already done well on mobile just like on consoles and PCs before them. Yet I have never played either game in any form. If you're like me, here is a chance to get the entire series for free.

With free titles, Epic reminds me of how the Amazon Appstore once gave out free apps of the day, which were sometimes games. Free games are already the primary reason many people have the Epic Game Store installed on their PCs today, and Epic will need to do more than attract people with free stuff to be a success. The strategy didn't work for Amazon, who recently shuttered the Appstore for non-Fire devices. For the time being, though, this is reason enough to create an account and give the mobile Epic Store a shot.

As much as I want to support the Epic Games Store on principle, that isn't enough to build a successful viable alternative. Epic needs to deliver the goods. Hopefully, in doing so, it creates a community and a culture that views mobile phones and tablets as places for quality gaming. If not, well, at least there's TapTap.

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