Can alternative app stores break through?

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Amazon struck a blow to the notion of a future outside of the App Store and Google Play last week with the news that it will shut down its Android App Store on August 20th. What’s more, developers can no longer submit apps to the marketplace.

I know what some of you are thinking: who cares?

That’s my point exactly. A juggernaut like Amazon couldn’t find a meaningful way to challenge Apple and Google. Of course, this particular decision is big tech being big tech: closing down a division as it sets its eyes on bigger profits elsewhere. Large companies can, and will, always change gear on a whim. With the buzz around a changing mobile ecosystem you’d think it could be Amazon’s time to strike. It didn’t agree.

The news came off the back of Epic Games releasing data about its Epic Games Store. While the number of accounts and daily active users was up, player spending on PC through Epic Payments was down 18% year-over-year to $255 million in 2024.

That figure, of course, doesn’t include publishers generating revenue from their own payment solutions. Good for them to have the choice - an option the Fortnite maker has been fighting for - but when it comes to a long-term, reliable and sustainable business, what does that mean for the store’s future supporting third-parties?

While that’s PC, it’s a similar situation alternative app stores face: how do you unseat a monopoly? In this case, after enormous investment by Epic into its store and offering a whole host of games available for free for years, revenue is falling. Steam continues to dominate and Epic remains the Fortnite company. That’s still a very lucrative business, of course: player spending on PC overall was up 15% Y/Y to $1.09bn.

It highlights the arguably even greater challenge Epic faces on mobile, which is coming at a very high cost from litigation across the globe.

Mobile challengers

For some context on other would-be rivals: Huawei reports that it has 580m monthly active users for its marketplace, while the Samsung Galaxy Store claims to have hundreds of millions of users, too.

Notably in Western markets, these stores, whatever their claims to user numbers, aren’t really discussed at large in the industry as noteworthy revenue generators on par with the App Store and Google Play. Unless there’s a huge underground conspiracy I’ve missed where developers are seeing 10x returns by comparison.

That’s not to say they don’t make money for themselves or publishers, or new marketplaces can’t be profitable, but the level of spend doesn’t seem comparable. So with all the court cases and regulatory action around the world making ever larger cracks in the App Store and Google Play, can a new app marketplace really compete?

Alvaro Pinto, co-founder and COO of app distribution platform Aptoide, told PocketGamer.biz he believes this is not the time to lose hope.

"Amazon has spent a number of years trying to establish its Android app store, so it's interesting that it has taken the decision to retire it just as the app distribution ecosystem is starting to truly open up,” he said.

“There are still considerable hurdles to overcome in terms of friction for stores, users and app developers, but weekly shifts in global regulations show this is not the time to lose hope.

“That a company with the resources and expertise of Amazon has struggled to scale its flagship mobile store demonstrates the size of the challenge, but thanks to an agile, store-first approach, a number of alternative app stores are now starting to gain significant traction."

We’ll see what the future holds and if new stores can really break the habit of a generation in using the App Store and Google Play. If ever there was a time to make it happen in the West, it’s now.

Get more insights into the changing mobile landscape, including alternative app stores and direct-to-consumer practices, at Pocket Gamer Connects San Francisco on March 17th to 18th.