Apple has sparked yet more furious criticism after unveiling new EU App Store business terms last week.
The tech giant revealed a set of new policies intended to comply with the EU’s Digital Markets Act last Thursday, which technically allow alternative app stores and third party payments within EU App Stores for the first time.
The guidelines are complex and come with numerous caveats. Developers can forecast the outcomes using Apple’s fee calculator, but most established firms will likely see Apple’s commission on all IAPs drop to 17%, with the addition of a new Core Technology Fee of €0.50 for each app install over 1m per annum on top.
As many have noted, the move is a little reminiscent of Unity’s disastrous Runtime Fee policy. One mobile game publisher CEO told us: “I think it’s terrible – we just put to rest the same sort of horrible Runtime Fee proposal from Unity and now Apple is doing the same. They know better than anyone that this model doesn’t work with free to play and would kill games and companies. So it’s in very bad faith.”
“I find it so disturbing,” they continued, “that in a time when so much of the industry is hurting with layoffs and closures, that the tech companies who rely on content creators – who should be there to serve the industry – are just making everything harder.”
Xsolla interim CEO and president Chris Hewish told us: “It’s clear with these policies that Apple views developers as nothing more than thieves trying to steal from the house of Apple, when in reality Apple is hoarding the riches these developers rightfully deserve.”
“Doing some quick estimates, it appears that the 17% fee plus €0.50 install fee is just another way of maintaining their 30% fee; just dressed differently,” Hewish continued. “Similar recently announced install fees haven’t gone over well with the industry and it’s been shown how they will have a tremendously negative impact on anyone running free to play games. Which is likely the intention and a clumsy way of trying to keep developers locked into the 30% fee structure.”
“The other policies are simply meant to introduce friction and fear, by forcing fear-inducing messaging and extra unnecessary steps for players to climb on their way to better offers and closer relationships with the makers of games they love,” he added. “We’ve seen similar policies get called out as violating the intention of similar legislation in South Korea, and the EU has already indicated that they won’t stand for it either. Apple will continue to do everything they can to strip mine the mobile game business, but fortunately regulators and courts are increasingly siding with developers and gamers to combat these predatory practices.”
As Hewish suggests, Apple’s policies have not escaped the attention of EU regulators. EU industry chief Thierry Breton told Reuters last week that the bloc “will not hesitate to take strong action” if it finds that Apple’s proposed solutions are “not good enough”.
Another mobile game boss told us: “The Apple terms are very reminiscent of the first Unity ones in terms of impossible execution – but I guess they’re betting on nobody taking it up.”
They added that Apple’s increasingly hostile iOS ecosystem could end up benefitting main rival Android. “Google might end up being the winner if they are forced to open more than iOS, as consumers and devs might end up with a much better deal there. However then that change is unlikely to be voluntary.”
Another mobile game CEO criticised EU regulators, saying they have “missed the point” – and effectively “enabled Apple to charge an entrance fee to the iOS club, dubbed the ‘Core Technology Fee’.”
Other prominent figures in mobile have privately termed Apple’s latest move as “much worse than the Unity fiasco”, while influential analyst and investor Eric Seufert has said that the new terms are “another instance of Apple offering developers a “heads I win, tails you lose” proposition.”
The issue has sparked plenty of debate on our LinkedIn page, where Scopely and Embrace cofounder Eric Futoran said: “This is Apple being logistically smart and calculated. The question isn’t what are the terms. The question is what does Apple want? They don’t want stores still. This is going to be a long battle.”
Archie Stonehill, head of product at webshop startup Stash, added: “Apple’s policies demonstrate their complete focus on protecting their monopoly margins – even to the complete exclusion of user experience, their developer ecosystem, and the law.”
“And they do this in the most simple way possible: by not allowing fair competition, they don’t have to change anything about their product! What’s simpler than that?”
“I personally think it’s impressive that an organisation of Apple’s size could be so focused, so dedicated to a single objective – like crushing fair competition – that they are willing to screw over not just their own users, not just their core partners, but even the government of the third largest economy in the world.”
Also on our LinkedIn feed, X3M cofounder and CGO Guido Farji described Apple’s ecosystem as “abusive”, and its new EU App Store terms “costly and risky.” Mystic Games CEO Matthew Buxton added simply: “Apple hates games”.
Amid the furore, Epic Games announced last week that it plans to plough ahead with the EU launch of the Epic Games Store – and Fortnite – at some point this year. It did acknowledge, though, that it must still “figure out the regulatory timeline” and will “continue to argue to the courts and regulators that Apple is breaking the law”.
Epic Games boss Tim Sweeney also drew parallels between Apple’s new EU App Store policies and Unity’s Runtime Fee fiasco over the weekend, cheekily noting that the Runtime Fee “worked out so well for John Riccitiello.”
Fellow long-time Apple adversary Spotify also made its feelings crystal clear, stating in a blog that Apple’s new EU App Store policies are “extortion” and a “complete and total farce”.
