Epic vs Apple: One out of Six Games on App Store at Risk

According to a statement made by Phi Schiller (Apple), the outcome of the most epic (literally) battle over the App Store will affect one of each six games on the App Store, no matter who wins. Only 17% games on App Store are made by the free-to-play model – that is, free to download, but with paid extra content. As for other games, they are either paid from the beginning (most of them require no additional payments later) or offer no paid extras at all, being completely free – that is, ad-supported. 

Still, it should be admitted that free-to-play games are making the most money on the platform, so they are the most popular and influential at the same time. If their publishers consider the outcome of the trial unacceptable for their business model (for whatever reason – say Apple’s fee turns out too large), they will either drop iOS support or change their model. 

In case someone doesn’t remember, the situation was taken to court after Epic implemented Apple-independent payment system in Fortnite, and Apple suspended Epic’s account on App Store for bypassing Apple’s payment system and paying no fees. The court is now to decide whether third-party developers can bypass the platform’s payment system and whether 30% commission is justified.