In case you missed it over the Thanksgiving holiday rush last week, Roblox is now actively promoting sales of its virtual currency Robux via its website as opposed to making the same purchase on mobile or console.
This is highly significant, because up until recently, companies like Apple and Google would delist Roblox for doing something like this, since it deprives their app stores of the usual 30% in-app purchase cut. But with a court ruling against Google in favor of Epic last October, Roblox is joining Epic in what's effectively a game of chicken against the major platform publishers. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney is ebullient at this, of course, praising Roblox for "finally fighting the Apple tax".
So now Epic's Fortnite and Roblox, the world's most popular metaverse platforms, are openly challenging the major app publishers. How will the largest, Apple, react?
"I think Apple has been browbeaten into this position by regulators," a veteran virtual world exec tells me. "There's a lot of attention on Apple at the moment looking at whether they're anticompetitive or not. A few years ago, this would be a fast track to having your app updates denied -- or worse, be removed from the store. Today, Apple is allowing it; but I would surmise they're not happy about it."
One way of making this move a fait accompli is if the other metaverse platforms in the app stores follow suit -- specifically, Rec Room, ZEPETTO, VRChat, IMVU... and, of course, Second Life. Should they join forces with Roblox and Fortnite?
"They should," my exec pal tells me. "It's an anticompetitive tax on consumers -- if the sale is happening outside Apple's ecosystem, I don't see why Apple deserves a 30% cut. Developers already have to pay for membership to Apple's developer program, consumers already pay for a high margin expensive product; which developers end up having to buy a lot of too."
That's not to say it'll be easy, especially for smaller companies:
"[T]he answer is always complicated - Apple can make your life hard, and you don't want to give them reasons to. It might be subtle or overt -- take a look at the long running Spotify dispute with Apple."
I agree overall, and think now would be a good time for all these platforms to make a group announcement to that effect. But let's wait to see who blinks first.
Please support posts like these by buying Making a Metaverse That Matters and joining my Patreon!
Rec Room apparently has been offering 10% "bonus tokens" when you buy their in-game currency from their website ( https://rec.net/shop ) instead of in-game on platforms that take a cut. In my understanding, they have provided those bonus tokens for quite a while. Of course, 10% is less than 30%, but the principle of financially incentivizing users to avoid purchases on certain platforms still applies.
Posted by: Martin K. | Friday, December 06, 2024 at 10:19 AM