TL;DR
- Epic Games announced it won’t charge developers for their first $1,000,000 in revenue per app per year.
- The company is also introducing webshops for out-of-app purchases.
- Players who spend money in these webshops will gain 5% Epic Rewards on all purchases.
Arguably, no one is having a better Thursday than the people over at Epic Games. After years of battling it out with Apple in court, the court found Apple in willful violation of a 2021 injunction prohibiting anticompetitive practices and pricing. As Epic takes its victory lap, the company is introducing two developer-friendly changes to its store that could also benefit gamers.
In a blog post, Epic announced that developers will not be charged for their first $1,000,000 in revenue per app per year on the Games Store. After they reach this threshold, revenue share will revert to the usual 88%/12% split. The game publisher states this change will go into effect starting in June.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney highlights in a social post that Apple takes 15% for the first $1M, which balloons to 30% after that. Google also charges about the same amount for its service fees.
In addition to taking 0% commission fees, Epic also plans to enable developers to launch webshops. These webshops would be hosted on the Games Store app and would give developers “a more cost-effective alternative to in-app purchases.” This means developers would be able to skirt around the fees that the App Store and Play Store charge for these purchases. In one last jab at Apple, the company says webshops will be available in June “on any platform that allows it, including iOS in the European Union and United States.”
While this is mostly a developer-focused announcement, this has implications for gamers as well. First and foremost, Epic states that players who spend money in these webshops will accrue 5% Epic Rewards on all purchases. These changes could also lead to cheaper prices for gamers since developers are paying reduced fees. Last but not least, Epic previously stated it has had a tough time convincing developers to distribute their games outside of the default mobile marketplaces due to all of the fees. After the court’s decision, Epic will probably have an easier time getting developers to come over to its storefront.
