Platform Fees And Direct Commerce

Of the $136B in content sales outside of China and excluding 1st-party platform games and services, store fees consumed $33.2B of gross revenues that might otherwise go to publishers

iOS IAP generates the highest platform fees at $11.8B, followed by Android IAP at $9.0B, Console at $7.8B, and Steam at $4.7B

Annual (non-China) platform fees rival many top markets combined as a revenue opportunity

Platform fees are likely 150% of (non-China) profits

Many mobile publishers are already redirecting substantial and growing shares of their gross revenues to alternative (typically D2C) payment channels with far lower commissions

Direct-to-consumer payment channels have far lower commissions than traditional app store payment channels

Stillfront has achieved the highest share of D2C revenue among tracked publishers, reaching approximately 50% by Q4 2025

D2C stores are partly why topline mobile growth has slowed

Gamemakers discount gross prices to encourage D2C/webshop adoption that offer better net sales economics

Across five mobile publishers with leading D2C adoption (and ~$4.4B in total player spend), gross sales are down 1% since Q1'23 but (more important) net sales are up 4%

Net sales growth (4%) is more important than gross sales decline (1%)

To maximize D2C adoption, publishers must do more than offer valuable discounts, fun perks, and simple user journeys. They must also support scores of payment solutions

Payment method preferences vary significantly between different regional markets

At Epic Games Store on PC, IAP fees are only 12% (and often less), but a growing share of publishers use their own billing solutions. In 2025, 35% of 3rd-Party hours were direct

Third-party content playtime on Epic Games Store has grown consistently from 1.2 billion hours in 2019 to 2.8 billion hours in 2025