No Fair
Facebook claims new App Store policies are anti-competitive
"Apple is behaving anti-competitively by using their control of the App Store to benefit their bottom line at the expense of creators and small businesses"
Changing Times
Indie Mavens: How will Apple's App Store Small Business Program impact developers?
"Let’s be frank: neither Apple nor Valve provide enough of a service to deserve a 30 per cent cut.
Come One Come All
Enrolment begins for Apple's Small Business Program
"Designed to accelerate innovation and help propel your small business forward with the next generation of groundbreaking apps"
Money Money Money
Publishers earning below $1m account for 2% of App Store games revenue
89.8 per cent of companies earn below $100,000
New Games
30 notable mobile games released in November 2020 you may have missed
What just happened?
Fight For Fairness
Epic Games is not fighting Apple "for a lower commission"
"Epic is fighting for fair competition among mobile platform companies, stores, and payment processors"
Helping Hand
Apple to aid small businesses by reducing its App Store commission
"Small businesses are the backbone of our global economy and the beating heart of innovation and opportunity in communities around the world"
Pgc Digital
PGC Digital: "There's a huge ripple effect once you don't have detailed information about players," says Tilting Point head Andre Cohen
Apple looks to introduce further privacy rules in early 2021
Pgc Digital
PGC Digital: Apple removing IDFA "could have really negative impacts on the entire industry," says Gamejam CEO Christian Calderon
Apple is set to introduce new privacy measures in iOS 14
Indie Spotlight
Lozange Labs's Matt and Ava Loz on how the App Store editor can make or break a game
"The main challenge in the mobile games market is managing to get any sort of visibility"
Fight For Fairness
Coalition for App Fairness formed to combat Apple and its App Store policies
Includes Epic Games and Spotify
Apple Streaming
Apple revises App Store policies to allow Stadia and xCloud on iOS
New policies include major caveats which Microsoft disagree with
Court Case
Apple files counterclaim against Epic over Fortnite's direct payment option
It is after "restitution and disgorgement of all earnings"
Round Two
Epic asks court to force Apple to reinstate Fortnite
"Apple is a monopolist. It controls all app distribution on iOS"
Delayed Change
Apple delays privacy policy changes to next year
We want to give developers the time they need to make the necessary changes"
Outta Here
Fortnite's removal opens up the battle royale market
The game generated around $1.2 billion on iOS
Terminated
Apple follows through with threat as it removes Epic's developer account
"We are disappointed that we have had to terminate the Epic Games account on the App Store"
Got Your Back
Microsoft gives its support to Epic in its ongoing feud with Apple
"Developing a game using different game engines for different platforms may be prohibitively expensive and difficult"
Sour Apple
Apple insists that Epic deliberately chose to "cheat" the company after being denied a special deal
Tim Sweeney claimed he asked the change to be for all iOS developers
What About Us?
News publishers are asking Apple to take a lower commission on the App Store
Amazon has a better deal than other companies
Fallout
Update: Fall Guys clone 'Fall Gang: Knockout' accumulates 81,000 downloads before being removed from App Store
The iOS title generated $3,500 after adding a premium option
Retaliation
Epic files injuction to prevent Apple from removing its developer tools from Mac and iOS
"Apple's actions will 'break' Fortnite for millions of existing players"
Taking Issue
Facebook criticises Apple for its App Store commission costs
Follows the removal of Fortnite
Hard Day's Fortnite
Why is Epic going to war with Apple and Google?
Untangling the mess of the Fortnite mobile debacle
It's A Battle
Fortnite generated just $10 million in revenue from Google Play before its removal
It secured 11 million downloads in four months through Google's store
Epic Battle
Epic sues Apple after Fortnite removed from App Store
Two titans of the mobile games industry have gone head-to-head
Grab A Deal
Epic is circumventing Apple and Google's fees to offer discounted V-Bucks in Fortnite on mobile
"Epic passes along payment processing savings to you"
By The Book
The EU is keeping an eye on Apple and the App Store
"The Commission is aware of these concerns regarding Apple's App Store rules"
Stripped Back
Facebook Gaming launches app without Instant Games for iOS
"Unfortunately, we had to remove gameplay functionality entirely in order to get Apple's approval"
Access Denied
Apple claims that cloud gaming apps like Project xCloud violate its policies
Microsoft is still commited to bringing its platform to iOS
Io-no
Project xCloud testing ceases on iOS devices
The app was expired on August 5th
China Game Removals
Mass delisting by Apple China: Over 26,000 games without ISBN removed
Yodo1 looks at the impact of so many games suddenly disappearing from the App Store
Apple Commission
Apple under fire over subscription commission rates on the App Store
House Antitrust Subcommitte reveals internal emails showing deals with Amazon over commission rates
Regulated Fun
Apple commissions a new report to show its strict App Store rules make for a better experience
"Trust and integrity are central to making buyers and sellers comfortable trading on the platform"
Master The Meta
Master the Meta: China's crackdown, new EU rules, and $7.8 billion of deals
News and insights from the Master the Meta team
Need A License
The App Store sees over 2,500 game removals in China
In the first week of July
Apple Isbn
Apple's China App Store ISBN crackdown begins with update to its developer console
But no games have been removed from the store so far
Reviewed Policy
Apple changes up its App Store review policies
Appeals can challenge the guidelines
Sixth Time's The Charm
Report: Apple has rejected Facebook Gaming app at least five times already
App Store rules preventing HTML5 gaming app from launching
Follow The Rules
Apple to reject any games without an ISBN in China from July 2020
Rumoured crackdown now looks set in stone
10 Years On
56% of iPhone apps sell less than 10,000 copies
It's a topheavy market where less than 10% do 100k+
Everyone Loves A Comeback
Google Stadia mobile app surpasses one million installs in five months
50 per cent increase over launch week
My Nintendo
Nintendo launches My Nintendo app in Japan
Offers services across Switch, Wii U and 3DS
Big Moves
Apple rolls out App Store to 20 new countries in Africa, the Middle East, and more
Apple Music similarly being expanded to same countries
Bad Liar
Pop star Selena Gomez files lawsuit against Clothes Forever developer LoveCrunch
Suing for damages, profits, and for the game to stop using her likeness.
Designing Screenshots
Designing mobile game screenshots that actually convert players
App Radar marketing manager Genie Patrathiranond on how to make the most of your screenshots
Keyword Field Trick
Update: Games are "exploiting" coronavirus SEO on the App Store
Plague Inc. continues top paid charts
Exclusive Data
Google mobile downloads suggest Stadia has sold 107,000 units in the last two months
US tops group for the largest portion of installs
Crossplay Enabled
Riot launches first-ever mobile game Teamfight Tactics on March 19th
80 million downloads since debuting on PC
App Annie
China mobile game downloads skyrocketed by 80% in February 2020
63 million installs per week