This milestone allows Epic CEO Tim Sweeney to move closer to his long-held ambition of launching an alternative game store on Apple's walled garden of delights—at least within Europe.

Earlier this year, the Fruity Cargo Cult announced plans to permit third-party app stores on iOS in the region, adhering to the letter of the law (though some argue not the spirit) as mandated by the Digital Markets Act (DMA). This act was introduced to make platforms more open and competitive.

Job’s Mob’s new policies allow for alternative app marketplaces, but with significant caveats regarding the agreements, app developers must accept. We discussed this in detail earlier this year.

This change follows years of intense PR campaigns and legal battles worldwide between Epic and Apple. Sweeney argued that Apple's app approval processes are anti-competitive and that its 30 per cent cut of app revenues is unfair.

Despite the policy shift, Apple rejected the Epic Games Store app twice. The rejections were due to specific rules about the copy and shape of buttons within the app, not its primary function.

Apple informed Epic that some buttons within the app were too similar in both appearance and copy to Apple's buttons—including the "Install" button and the "in-app purchases" copy. Apple believed this violated its guidelines, which aim to prevent developers from mimicking Apple app designs too closely, potentially confusing users.

Following these rejections, Epic took to X to accuse Apple of rejecting the app in a manner that was "arbitrary, obstructive, and in violation of the DMA." Epic claimed it followed Apple's suggested design conventions for the buttons and noted that the copy matched language it has used in its store on other platforms for a long time.

Shortly after, Apple approved the app despite the disagreement over the copy and button designs. However, AppleInsider reported that Apple would still require Epic to change the copy and buttons later. Epic disputed this on X, and Sweeney said:

“Apple is now telling reporters that this approval is temporary and that they demand we change the buttons in the next version, making our store less standard and harder to use. We’ll fight this.”