Epic Games is making some big changes to its store to provide an enticing alternative to Apple’s in-app purchases for developers. The company is announcing the changes less than a day after a major court ruling that mandates that Apple can’t collect fees on purchases made outside of apps or restrict how they point to off-platform payments, meaning that more developers may choose to direct users to other payment options.
Beginning in June, Epic says that for any payments processed via the Epic Games Store, developers will pay a zero percent revenue share – meaning developers themselves will keep all of their revenue – “on their first $1,000,000 in revenue per app per year,” according to a blog post. After that, Epic’s typical 88 / 12 percent revenue share will kick in. Apple and Google offer a lowered commission rate on sales below $1 million, too, but only to 15 percent versus Epic’s zero.
Also beginning in June, Epic will launch a new feature that lets developers launch Epic Games Store-hosted “webshops.” These webshops “can offer players out-of-app purchases as a more cost-effective alternative to in-app purchases, where Apple, Google, and others charge exorbitant fees,” Epic says.
To incentivize buying things from webshops, Epic says that player spending will accrue 5 percent Epic Rewards “on all their purchases.” Epic Rewards can be applied to future purchases from Epic’s store.
Shortly after the ruling last night, CEO Tim Sweeney also announced that Epic plans to bring Fortnite back to the US iOS App Store next week. Apple kicked the game off the App Store in 2020.
