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

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

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%

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

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

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

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

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