6 ms·

> Apple needed that 30 percent cut to monitor for fraud and quality or something, going above-and-beyond other payment processors. How much do Microsoft, Sony,

> Apple needed that 30 percent cut to monitor for fraud and quality or something, going above-and-beyond other payment processors. How much do Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Steam, Gog and etc. take from publishers on their stores?

tsieling 6y ago
Roughly the same, I think the variance is about 10% with Steam being an outlier working in tiers tied to revenue. At least one allows developers to name the cut (including 0%) but 30% is the most common number.
ghostpepper 6y ago
This is a valid question - if the answer is a fraction of what Apple charges then it strengthens the case against Apple.
- objclxt 6y ago
  It’s the same. Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo all charge 30%. https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/10/07/report-steams-30-cut-is-actually-the-industry-standard https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/10/07/report-steams-30-cut...
- Razengan 6y ago
  > if the answer is a fraction of what Apple charges then it strengthens the case against Apple. The answer is the same. What now? Will you put down the pitchforks?
  - ghostpepper 6y ago
    My comment was actually intended to play a bit of devil's advocate - I'm not convinced that Apple has a monopoly, and I kind of don't mind living in the walled garden.
coldpie 6y ago
It's all private, of course, but they're all generally in the 30% ballpark. There may be lower rates for big clients, but there's no way for us to know that. https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/08/as-epic-attacks-apple-and-google-it-ignores-the-same-problems-on-consoles/ https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/08/as-epic-attacks-apple...
- danudey 6y ago
  In other words, Apple and Google are bad for taking a 30% cut, but Sony and Microsoft are not bad for taking a 30% cut plus having a (reportedly) vastly more onerous set of policies than Apple has.
  - glangdale 6y ago
    When console makers start making the same profit margin on their devices as Apple does, as opposed to selling them at or even below cost, this argument will begin to make sense.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
  - manquer 6y ago
    It is not fixed , depending on how large you are MS or Sony will pay you to launch on their store . There is volume discounts , AAA does not pay indie rates
pwinnski 6y ago
They all take 30% of IAP.
immigrantsheep 6y ago
Microsoft takes 5% since last year. https://blogs.windows.com/windowsdeveloper/2019/03/06/updated-microsoft-store-app-developer-agreement-new-revenue-share/ https://blogs.windows.com/windowsdeveloper/2019/03/06/update...
- donarb 6y ago
  Except games and Xbox: "The new fee structure excludes all games and any purchases on Xbox consoles."
- joshstrange 6y ago
  This is misleading, it doesn't apply to games and it's only if you link your customer directly into the app store (not if they go to the store and search for your app or find it some other way).
josephcsible 6y ago
That's a misleading question, because on other platforms you can choose to avoid the store. A better question would be "what's the lowest cut you need to give up to distribute to users of these other platforms?". And the answer to that is zero on basically all of them except iOS.
- baddox 6y ago
  > That's a misleading question, because on other platforms you can choose to avoid the store. That's definitely not true. You cannot run unsigned code on most video game consoles. And for PC game marketplaces, those platforms still have market power. Surely there's a big difference between being banned from Steam and being banned from the Discord Store.
  - dwild 6y ago
    > That's definitely not true. You cannot run unsigned code on most video game consoles. And I'm pretty sure many people would be quite against this practice and believe this is an harmful monopolistic practice. The thing is though, no one had the balls and/or the cash to defends this like Epic does right now against Apple. Let's hope this will bring a more open future on video game consoles too.
    - baddox 6y ago
      Most people I've seen commenting on this Epic vs. Apple debate seem to think that it's okay on game consoles but not okay on iPhones, which is just preposterous. At least you're consistent. But what about e-readers, GPS devices, car entertainment systems, etc.? Should all Turing-complete computing devices be forced to provide a way for the owner to run unsigned code?
      - ayoisaiah 6y ago
        The difference is that those other devices have a specific use. Smartphones are general purpose devices, so it's not the same at all

tsieling 6y ago

Roughly the same, I think the variance is about 10% with Steam being an outlier working in tiers tied to revenue. At least one allows developers to name the cut (including 0%) but 30% is the most common number.

ghostpepper 6y ago

This is a valid question - if the answer is a fraction of what Apple charges then it strengthens the case against Apple.

objclxt 6y ago
It’s the same. Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo all charge 30%. https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/10/07/report-steams-30-cut-is-actually-the-industry-standard https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/10/07/report-steams-30-cut...
Razengan 6y ago
> if the answer is a fraction of what Apple charges then it strengthens the case against Apple. The answer is the same. What now? Will you put down the pitchforks?
- ghostpepper 6y ago
  My comment was actually intended to play a bit of devil's advocate - I'm not convinced that Apple has a monopoly, and I kind of don't mind living in the walled garden.

coldpie 6y ago

It's all private, of course, but they're all generally in the 30% ballpark. There may be lower rates for big clients, but there's no way for us to know that. https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/08/as-epic-attacks-apple-and-google-it-ignores-the-same-problems-on-consoles/ https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/08/as-epic-attacks-apple...

danudey 6y ago
In other words, Apple and Google are bad for taking a 30% cut, but Sony and Microsoft are not bad for taking a 30% cut plus having a (reportedly) vastly more onerous set of policies than Apple has.
- glangdale 6y ago
  When console makers start making the same profit margin on their devices as Apple does, as opposed to selling them at or even below cost, this argument will begin to make sense.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
- manquer 6y ago
  It is not fixed , depending on how large you are MS or Sony will pay you to launch on their store . There is volume discounts , AAA does not pay indie rates

pwinnski 6y ago

They all take 30% of IAP.

immigrantsheep 6y ago

Microsoft takes 5% since last year. https://blogs.windows.com/windowsdeveloper/2019/03/06/updated-microsoft-store-app-developer-agreement-new-revenue-share/ https://blogs.windows.com/windowsdeveloper/2019/03/06/update...

donarb 6y ago
Except games and Xbox: "The new fee structure excludes all games and any purchases on Xbox consoles."
joshstrange 6y ago
This is misleading, it doesn't apply to games and it's only if you link your customer directly into the app store (not if they go to the store and search for your app or find it some other way).

josephcsible 6y ago

That's a misleading question, because on other platforms you can choose to avoid the store. A better question would be "what's the lowest cut you need to give up to distribute to users of these other platforms?". And the answer to that is zero on basically all of them except iOS.

baddox 6y ago
> That's a misleading question, because on other platforms you can choose to avoid the store. That's definitely not true. You cannot run unsigned code on most video game consoles. And for PC game marketplaces, those platforms still have market power. Surely there's a big difference between being banned from Steam and being banned from the Discord Store.
- dwild 6y ago
  > That's definitely not true. You cannot run unsigned code on most video game consoles. And I'm pretty sure many people would be quite against this practice and believe this is an harmful monopolistic practice. The thing is though, no one had the balls and/or the cash to defends this like Epic does right now against Apple. Let's hope this will bring a more open future on video game consoles too.
  - baddox 6y ago
    Most people I've seen commenting on this Epic vs. Apple debate seem to think that it's okay on game consoles but not okay on iPhones, which is just preposterous. At least you're consistent. But what about e-readers, GPS devices, car entertainment systems, etc.? Should all Turing-complete computing devices be forced to provide a way for the owner to run unsigned code?
    - ayoisaiah 6y ago
      The difference is that those other devices have a specific use. Smartphones are general purpose devices, so it's not the same at all