Epic Games Store sees "stunning" rise in successful installations as iOS scare screen removed

• Epic Games Store install drop-off has fallen by 60% on iOS.
• Epic Games still accuses Apple and Google of violating the Digital Markets Act

Install rates of the Epic Games Store on iOS are rising dramatically since the elimination of scare screens.

As Apple has been forced to make adjustments in the EU in compliance with the Digital Markets Act, Epic has highlighted a "stunning" decrease in player drop-off when attempting to install its store on iOS.

Prior to the changes, the Fortnite maker suggested it had around a 65% drop-off rate when users attempted to navigate 15 steps to install the store. Now with just six steps to install, drop-off has fallen to around 25%.

This represents a 60% decline in drop-off thus far, and continues to improve as users update to the newest iOS version.

"For the first time, we are starting to see iOS users install the Epic Games Store with a success rate approaching Windows users and Apple's own Mac users," the company acknowledged.

Room to improve

However, Epic Games argued that despite the "significant strides", Apple’s policy around competing stores still fails to comply with the DMA. Epic accused the tech giant of "thwarting competition" through fees like the Core Technology Fee, and of deploying discriminatory policies against developers who support competing stores.

"These Apple policies are unlawful and stand in stark contrast to the operation of Apple's own Mac platform, which does none of these things," Epic claimed.

"As a result of these anticompetitive acts, developers have been willing to distribute far fewer mobile games through the Epic Games Store on iOS than the Epic Games Store on Android."

The Fortnite maker also touched on Google’s policies around alternative app stores. Though these have long been available on Android, Epic accused Google of continuing to "blatantly violate the Digital Markets Act" with its installation flow taking 12 steps and retaining a scare screen.

The company suggested Google’s UI "sabotages" more than 50% of attempts to install the Epic Games Store.