Apple has been revealed to release its own game app at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference. The app is expected to be an integrated game launcher that integrates in-game achievements, leaderboards, social and other functions, or will be pre-installed in a variety of Apple’s hardware. In recent years, under the resistance of game companies and the pressure of regulators, Apple’s App Store and commission model have been restricted in Europe, the United States and other places. App Store has gradually lost its monopoly position in systems such as iOS, and faces the situation of competing with third-party platforms. In this context, there is news that Apple will launch its own game channels, or its response in this situation. At a time when the App Store is under siege, Apple is focusing on gaming, specializing in this content category, and adding social elements to enhance user stickiness, as a way to break through the siege of regulatory and third-party platforms, according to analysts. Launching its own game app? According to people familiar with the matter, this app is a game launcher, integrates in-game achievements, social and other functions, and may be pre-installed on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV this year. The app will showcase new game content recommendations written by Apple’s editorial team, provide an entry point to the App Store game category, and promote Apple Arcade, Apple’s subscription service. It will also replace the existing social network Game Center, which was launched in 2010 but has not been able to achieve widespread impact. ” A reporter from China Business News contacted Apple to confirm the authenticity of the above information, but did not receive a reply as of press time. It is reported that Apple Arcade is a game subscription service launched by Apple in 2019, which aims to provide iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV users with a high-quality gaming experience without ads and internal purchases. Players can play all the games on the platform without restrictions after paying a monthly fee. Earlier in 2010, Apple launched Game Center, a game social platform, which brought together friends, leaderboards, achievements, multiplayer matching and other functions. However, due to its lack of community active level, function updates are slow and its influence is gradually waning. In addition, public information shows that Apple recently acquired independent game studio RAC7, the first acquisition of a game development studio in Apple’s history. It is reported that RAC7 has only two people, and has previously launched independent games “Dark Echo” and “Splitter Critters”. The recent masterpiece “Sneaky Sasquatch” is an exclusive game on Apple Arcade. In the future, the studio will become Apple’s internal studio. Apple responded to foreign media on this matter, saying that this acquisition is a special situation, and the company believes that it can help this team to further develop on Apple Arcade, and will continue to cooperate with third-party game studios of all sizes in the future. The platform monopoly controversy Apple’s recent plans in the gaming field were exposed just after losing a lawsuit with Epic, in which a California court ordered Apple to no longer charge for jumping to out-of-app payments. Due to the closed nature of iOS, Apple requires all apps on the platform to be distributed through the App Store, not directly downloaded from app developers or third-party app stores. All apps distributed by the App Store need to be approved by Apple and comply with the App Store’s billing policy. On this basis, Apple takes a cut of the payment on its platform, usually 30%. In 2020, US game maker Epic tried to bypass Apple’s App Store’s 30% cut rule and let players pay directly in the game “Fortnite”, which was removed from the App Store. Since then, Epic and Apple have launched a nearly five-year lawsuit. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney revealed in an interview with foreign media that the legal costs in Epic v. Apple have exceeded $100 million. If you take into account the lost revenue due to the game’s removal, the impact on Epic in these five years has reached $1 billion or more. Epic’s cross-platform Battle Royale game “Fortnite”, which was forced to be removed from the App Store, was the company’s “cash cow”, contributing 97% and 88% of its revenue in 2018 and 2019, respectively. In response to a dispute between Epic and Apple, US courts have ruled that Apple is not allowed to prohibit developers from providing links or other information to guide users to make purchases outside of Apple apps. Apple instead collects 12% to 27% commissions from external purchase links. On April 30, a judge in the US District Court of California ruled that Apple cannot charge commissions for purchases from users iOS off-app channels, nor can it prompt external links latent risk and other ways to prevent users from making external purchases. Apple therefore filed an emergency motion with the appellate court to suspend the implementation of the new rules until it can complete a full appeal. On June 4, the court denied the motion. In January 2024, Apple announced that, in response to the requirements of the European Union’s Digital Market Act, it would open up third-party stores to users in iOS Europe, allowing them to set third-party browsers as default browsers, reducing the percentage from the original 30% to 17%. What is the significance of building your own channel? Although Apple is still insisting on appealing, in recent years the tech giant’s monopoly advantage in its own platform has been weakened, and it has gradually retreated to the starting line to compete with third-party platforms. For Apple, losing its platform exclusivity is undoubtedly a blow. According to Apple’s fourth quarter results of fiscal 2024, its service business revenue was 96.17 billion US dollars, an increase of 13% year-on-year, accounting for 25% of total revenue. In contrast, Apple’s hardware devices (such as iPhone, iPad, Mac, wearable devices, etc.) revenue increased or decreased slightly year-on-year, and the overall revenue increased by only 2%. Apple’s App Store and commission are restricted in Europe, the United States and other regions, which undoubtedly strangles the throat of the company’s most dynamic service business. In this context, Apple is exposed to launch its own game channel. Zhang Shule, a commentator for the game industry, told reporters that in many countries and regions, Apple needs to lift the restrictions on third-party app stores, which means that the Apple App Store is no longer an exclusive shelf. At this time, Apple’s own game channel is to list games in the App Store, a field with strong internal purchasing power and huge revenue volume; not only that, it explores the possibility of adding more social elements on the basis of shelves, turning the store into a social salon to enhance user stickiness, so as to resist the entry of third-party app stores; in the long run, such social salons can also retain intermediate users who have started to jump repeatedly on Android and Apple systems due to the lack of disruptive innovation. “A game app store with high popularity, high stickiness and high download conversion can effectively ensure its attractiveness to game manufacturers and independent game developers,” Zhang Shule said. He believes that the 30% “Apple tax” will not be ended. “At least until the emergence of a new app store profit model, the’Apple tax ‘will not disappear. What’s more, there is a more disorderly and expensive’Android tax’. The’Apple tax ‘has become a target, only because its main body is Apple; while the main body of the’Android tax’ is a number of mobile phone manufacturers and app stores, it is difficult to complain or sue together.” The reporter learned that for a long time, the domestic Android channel share ratio has generally been 50%, and only some head products can receive separate bargaining treatment. However, with the rise of third-party app stores and the increase in content producers has the voice over, the hardware channel has also begun to decline. It is worth noting that the game channel that Apple is revealed to launch this time will also cover the Mac system. Zhang Shule told reporters: “If this game channel is also available on the Mac, it may indeed increase the stickiness of Mac games, but the bonus is not high. To really put pressure on the PC game market, it may be necessary for Apple to achieve game data interoperability between the Mac and iOS, and promote more games to realize the simultaneous launch, update and seamless switching of devices on the Mac and iOS systems.”
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