"100% of IAP is up for hijacking" in DTC 2.0

• Appcharge's Gil Tov-Ly spoke at PGC Barcelona.
• He discussed "fragmented" DTC and the latest opportunities for game makers.

"100% of IAP is up for hijacking," said Appcharge chief marketing officer Gil Tov-Ly.

"For the first time ever, we have a court backing and we have a compliance condition that allows developers to send users outside the app for purchases on iOS in the U.S."

Tov-Ly revealed DTC insights in the wake of the landmark US court ruling against Apple earlier this year, which forced changes to the App Store’s payment policy. He spoke at Pocket Gamer Connects Barcelona about the seismic implications for game makers and about how relying only on web shops is "so 2023".

Tov-Ly also explained hijacking, describing it as natively adding a button in-game that leads players to pay on the web - at a hosted web checkout, from which they’re automatically redirected back to the game after a purchase. He suggested that the potential value of moving to a DTC model like this instead of paying the 30% "Apple tax" would save the top 10 publishers $1.6 billion in the US.

"I’m not talking about acquiring new users, I’m not talking about UA budget. I’m just talking about sending the same purchases to the web and back. And by one-day integration, there’s $1.6bn up for grabs."

DTC 2.0

"We’re living in a very historic moment. A historic shift is happening in our industry," Tov-Ly said.

He noted that web shops are still a "wonderful" tool performing well in LTV categories, but highlighted the "evolution" since then with alternative app stores. The Epic Games Store, for example, launched on mobile in August 2024 in the EU, and alongside other alternatives like Apptoide, the potential for sideloading games has grown.

"We believe that with the recent changes in regulation, we’re going to see more and more of these stores and developers tapping their feet in the water with distributing APKs."

Tov-Ly also raised native web games, which run on mobile web browsers without requiring a download. In these web browser versions of full games, payments are embedded and can run very smoothly.

With more options than ever, he called this DTC 2.0, a "fragmented" evolution for payments where developers can try new things and see what sticks with their specific player base.

Speaking with Tov-Ly, we went further in-depth about the "untapped potential on the table".

Since his talk, and as Appcharge sees significant year-over-year growth, the company has raised $58 million in Series B funding.