What Apple and Google's Shift to Direct-to-Consumer Means for Game Developers

The landscape of direct-to-consumer payments for mobile game developers is undergoing rapid changes. Recent court rulings and regulatory actions in the EU and US have challenged Google and Apple's app store dominance, potentially ending the mandatory 30% commission on in-game purchases. Traditionally, developers could sell in-game items or virtual currency through external webshops without extra fees, as long as they didn't embed payments within the game or direct players to external purchases. However, recent concessions from Apple and Google have come with high fees, prompting lawsuits from publishers like Epic and Spotify. Despite these challenges, direct-to-consumer remains a viable growth strategy, with successful examples like Warner Bros' Game of Thrones Conquest and Supercell's store. To monetize mobile games with direct-to-consumer, developers must navigate complex global payment methods, currency localization, and sales tax compliance. This is where a direct-to-consumer payments specialist like FastSpring can help, saving time and money while ensuring compliance with laws and regulations. FastSpring's CEO, David Nachman, notes that the company's Merchant of Record payment provider model assumes responsibility for processing payments and sales tax compliance worldwide, offering a seamless integration of payments within games or on webshops, and providing robust fraud prevention and dedicated customer support. With 19 years of experience, FastSpring is well-placed to support video game publishers in their direct-to-consumer strategies, allowing them to focus on making great games. The company's comprehensive platform and MoR model offer many benefits of a marketplace, but at a lower cost and with more flexibility. For publishers already selling directly to players, FastSpring can help expand into new markets or provide a redundant payment option. While committed to the fight for open commerce in mobile, FastSpring is ready to support developers with direct-to-consumer strategies today, championing consumer choice and developer freedoms.