As an avid PC gamer who’s been neck-deep in mobile games for the last decade, I know just how foolish it sounds to pin hope on Epic Games of all companies. On the PC side of things, most gamers are nonplussed with the company constantly paying for exclusives while withholding the games we’d like to buy and play on Steam or any other quality PC game stores. Essentially, Epic Games doesn’t have the best reputation when it comes to digital storefronts, but thanks to its war with Google and the Play Store (that it recently won), the company has offered a list of demands that it wants a judge to force on Google (many that I agree with).
The Google Play Store is a dumpster fire and AI won’t save it
The addition of AI recommendations to the Play Store won’t fix how Google prioritizes its whims over user satisfaction
So, despite Epic’s reputation for running a poor excuse of a games store on PC, I am hopeful its recently won lawsuit and pressure on Google leads to the Play Store opening up to competition so that we can finally get a competent storefront to purchase quality mobile games, seeing that the Play Store is a total wasteland of gambling garbage that targets children and the uninformed.
Why would anyone want Epic running another game store?
They couldn’t do a worse than Google
I concede wishing for one awful company to make another awful company behave is a pretty sad state of affairs, but this is the land of Android, controlled by Google, and much like everything else Google touches, Google comes first, and the customers come last. So, to have sat here and watched as the company has refused to improve the Play Store since its inception, instead only ever finding more ways to shove subscription and gambling apps under our noses, hasn’t been very enjoyable. Suffice it to say, finding good games on the Play Store that aren’t built from the ground up to nickel and dime is hard to find, which I feel in my bones, seeing I’ve been tracking Android game releases for so long.
Some of Android’s best games
I’ve built hundreds upon hundreds of lists highlighting the best games on the Play Store, so I am fully aware of how hard they are to find and track. It doesn’t have to be this way. Steam is proof positive digital stores can be run with the consumer in mind, but premium games that require a one-time fee aren’t what Google wants to sell us when it can push games that rake in money constantly with subscriptions and FOMO for a sweeter 30% cut. Google is incentivized to hide good games from us because they earn less, and so it does, which is why we need a third party to swing in and do what Steam did for PC, but for Android.
Best Android games in 2024: Top picks across every category
A running list of the best Android games available today
A quality digital game store on Android is needed
And Epic is in the position to do it
Despite a rise in third-party stores like TapTap that are somewhat gaming-focused, as crazy as it sounds, Epic is actually in the best position to create a mobile game store that caters to gamers exclusively. It’s already learned more than a few lessons through its failures on the PC side, as the PC store is slowly improving (they did add a cart eventually, after all), and it also has some key games under its belt, like Fortnite, that will bring in players in droves to check out the store. All it needs to do is not squander the chance to finally create a mobile game store that isn’t built from the ground up to highlight free-to-play trash instead of quality games; that’s it: be the first mobile game store that actually lists and highlights the games gamers want to play. Steam does it daily, proving it’s certainly possible when you actually put the consumer first.
