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Epic is bringing its free games program to mobile this year
- Epic has announced its plans to bring its popular “free games” program from desktop to mobile later this year.
- The Epic Games Store will also soon host third-party games, starting with Ark: Ultimate Mobile Edition.
Most people download new games on their Android devices through the Google Play Store, but other sources of games are becoming popular, too. Epic recently launched the Epic Games Store on Android in August this year, giving users the ultimate destination to download Fortnite on Android, alongside other games like Fall Guys and Rocket League Sideswipe. If you are looking for even more top-tier Android games to play and enjoy without spending a dime, then Epic has great news for you.
At the Unreal Fest event in Seattle, Epic Games Store general manager Mr. Steve Allison said in a post-keynote roundtable that Epic’s “free games” program is coming to mobile in Q4 this year (h/t Mobile Gamer), likely through the Epic Games Store. It will launch alongside third-party apps in the Epic Games Store in the holiday season. Epic expects about 10-50 apps to be ready, though implementing a payment solution could push some of these further down the months.
One of the first third-party games coming to the Epic Games Store will be Ark: Ultimate Mobile Edition, slated to arrive on mobile later this year.
Epic also wants to implement self-publishing tools, allowing developers to list their apps and games on the Epic Games Store without needing any interactions from Epic. This is slated for the first half of 2025, possibly as early as January. Other features in the pipeline include enabling social and party features throughout its store, like in-game chat and cross-platform play, marked for later in 2025.
Speaking from personal experience, the Epic Games Store and its “free games” program on desktop has allowed me to enjoy plenty of great titles over the years. Even though these games arrived for free a few years after their peak, they are still very playable, and I have spent many hours enjoying them. Since these games tend to be older or non-AAA titles, the graphics are also a bit dated, but the silver lining is that I can play them across less powerful hardware. For Epic, the free games are a user acquisition strategy for its store. The company hasn’t laid out its complete plan for the free games program on the Epic Games Store on mobile, but we can presume it will follow similar lines.