Sure, they can get better terms going through a competitor but then they don't get any of the value or services that Steam offers. They're paying a percentage t

Sure, they can get better terms going through a competitor but then they don't get any of the value or services that Steam offers. They're paying a percentage to make use of all the benefits you get through Steam both as a company and for the end-users. Apple's fees aren't excessive because they offer their services and provide their value to every app published through their store. Yes, they could offer a way to publish the app without those features and not charge the fee but that would further complicate the experience for users. I mean, technically, companies are absolutely allowed to host apps for users to side load themselves. It's just that no one wants to do that because it's not worth it when the costs Apple are taking are actually reasonable.