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EU fines Apple $568m for deterring third-party payment methods on App Store
(www.gamesindustry.biz)
They better start fining in Billions
this post was submitted on 24 Apr 2025
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Yes, Windows does that. It's called S Mode.
Isnt the mode dead? I thought they discontinued it
S mode in win10
SE mode in win11
Hating on Apple for their 30% cut is popular.
Hating on Google for their 30% cut is popular.
Hating on Microfot, Sony, and Nintendo for their cuts is popular.
But somehow hating on Steam for their 30% cut is going too far.
Steam's 30% is the last of their problems, I would like them to finally start actually moderating Steam forums. Because devs of the particular game usually don't care. Visit some forums of newly released popular game and it's full of bigots, misogyny, trolls and hate. It's unbelievable.
Go check oblivion remastered
Bigots, Misogyny, Trolls & Hate is translation for I want people censored because I am on a power-trip. These are vague & nebulous & why don't you & your buddies go counter them
& Good one mate, because I have been there.
You get value from Steam for paying that.
What value do you get from Apple for paying the Apple tax? A higher peice for a phone that could cost 500€ less?
I'm less mad at Steam and Google because there are clear, simple ways to avoid their cuts.
I have no basis to say whether they're providing a service worth the 30% charge. I'm also less mad at Steam than at Google because they're being less shady about trying to push people into their store too.
"Eat the rich!"
"Including Gabe?"
"Woooow there cowboy!"
I hate the hypocrisy.
Steam gets a pass because they actually offer buyer protection, refunds if it doesn’t work, refunds under certain requirements which can be waved under certain circumstances, removal of day one season passes, refunds for dlc that gets delayed too long for example.
If an actual competitor gave a shit about things that matter to actual players than they have a shot. Epic Game Store is a joke because no one wants a store that only focuses on what corporations want. GOG is good but just doesn’t market itself well, seriously outside of launching CDPR games I don’t see it at all.
Getting companies to offer their games on platforms that offer a higher margin is easy. Getting players over to a platform that offers less protections and features is not going to happen.
I was denied a refund for a broken game on Steam Deck just last winter. I had never played or even installed it, but I had purchased it and let it sit in my backlog too long before trying.
By comparison, I can’t recall a single time I’ve been denied a refund request from the iPhone App Store. They’ve also never sold me software that couldn’t run on the hardware they also sold me.
I understand how it’s my fault according to steam’s ToS, but it still doesn’t seem right to me.
GOG is good but just doesn’t market itself well
GOG's biggest problem is also their greatest asset: no DRM.
Perhaps that's because Steam doesn't seem to be trying very hard to "lock in" developers to their platform. Devs are free to sell their PC games on Gog or Epic or whatever. Steam is popular because it's a good platform. This freedom for developers or customers mostly does not exist on mobile or on consoles, except for the EUs efforts here.
Even their "console" the Steam Deck can, relatively easily, run games from other stores. I'm not saying a 30% cut should be considered fair but they do seem to take a different approach to digital sales than the other large players.
When you're in a monopolistic position you don't need to do much for people to decide to sell in your store instead of going for alternatives, who would have thought?
Yeah it’s arguable that Steam is a monopoly but somehow billion dollar publishers can’t create a store to sell their own products without fucking it up with annoying bullshit. Pay the 30% to protect you from yourselves.
Yeah, Steam is pretty much a monopoly. But I haven't seen what I'd call monopolistic practices from them. It's just that everyone else appears to fall flat on their faces when trying to make a competing product.
You could say the same about Google.
The same Google that's been constantly trying to add features that deter 3rd party app stores?
Such as?
Steam isn’t a monopoly.
The PC is an open platform, you can use any game store or launcher you want - unlike the iPhone, Android (without sideloading), PlayStation, switch, or Xbox.
My Samsung phone comes with an alternative android app store pre-installed.
Ya, but I also installed fdroid pretty easily without the system blocking me.
Microsoft, Apple, Exxon, Meta, Amazon, JP Morgan or Saudi Aramco are the most powerful corporations in the world. They are empires more powerful than many nations. Their CEOs always travel with armed men. They have the personal phone number of Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.
It's healthy to scrutinize them. Steam is a problem, but Valve is nowhere near as powerful.
I hate it 🙂
except only loosing 568m is just "the price of doing business" for them and it's not much of a deterrent to make them stop. they made more than that by doing this so it's still a net profit
I mean that would imply they stood to gain $568M by not allowing 3rd party app stores. Seems unlikely.
one of the most profitable companies in the world, it seems very likely
How much money do you think Google loses to 3rd party app stores? Considering they've been allowed from the beginning and are also one of the most profitable companies in the world?
Companies don't do shit that costs them money for no reason.
There are only two reasons a for profit company would do something, for profit or because the law is making them.
Well I think it's fair to assume that they not only didn't know for certain that they would be charged/fined but also how long it would take for that to happen or how much it would be. And they rolled the dice. They're definitely greedy but they're not omnipotent.
Likely. I guess I should clear up what I'm trying to get at, companies that large and monopolistic spend immense amount of resources doing everything they can to stifle competition because it's profitable to do so. They made the move knowingly approaching if not downright crossing the line, because their analysis showed them it would turn out to be profitable. Will we be fined? Probably not. If we do, can we afford it and still turn a profit?
Sorry, I don't understand how that's supposed to answer my question?
I missed. Meant to be aimed at your first comment up there
While true, 568m is a significant cost of doing business. Also remember that a punitive action should not make the company go bankrupt, it should make them rethink.
And if they don't, the fines will go higher, until they do rethink.
$568m is a day Apple will never get back!
Imagine if Microsoft required all software developers to give them 30% of their earning
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/publish/publish-your-app/why-distribute-through-store
Flexible revenue sharing options that let developers choose their own commerce platform and keep 100% of the revenue for non-gaming apps, or use Microsoft’s commerce platform and pay a competitive fee of 15% for apps and 12% for games.
I guess their rates are lower. Currently.
EDIT: And as @Eggyhead@lemmings.world points out, that's for Windows, not the XBox. For the XBox, they do run an exclusive store and apparently do 30% there as well.
continues using Linux
Microsoft does with their Xbox, though. Don’t they?
Microsoft is actually the least problematic of the console racket (Sony, Nintendo and MS), games release simultaneously to pc and they offer cross compatibility. Maybe the EU will address it eventually, but i guess mobile takes precedent given that everyone has a cell phone.
Tim Apple to Trump
You know what to do, papito....