IDFA and Apple’s legal battles actually mean 60% larger audiences for game developers

During the “The Apple Ecosystem Challenges” panel, presented by Xsolla at GamesBeat Summit Next, panelists discussed how the changes to the Apple app store ecosystem offer challenges, but also potential opportunity, from the IDFA deprecation to Apple’s various legal battles.

How a class action lawsuit is breaking open the market for developers

It began when Apple and Google moved to remove Epic from their stores after Epic added a link in Fortnite asking players to pay them directly, rather than paying through the in-app processing.  Epic was ready with a federal lawsuit, accusing both of antitrust violations under the Sherman Antitrust Act. The court held in Apple’s favor, explained panelist Rick Hoeg, host and founder of Virtual Legality on YouTube, and in favor of section 3.1.1 in Apple’s app developer guidelines — which prohibit developer metadata, links, and calls to action.  And as a result, the 30% fee that goes to Apple still stands. But developers have options, says Chris Hewish, president of Xsolla.