Vratislav Holub If you are interested in the events surrounding the apple company, then in recent years you have certainly not missed all kinds of allusions to the conditions of the App Store and the like. The Cupertino giant faces criticism for not allowing developers to use their own payment methods. In short, they have to be satisfied with payment through the App Store, from which Apple also takes almost a third of the share as a fee. This case grew to gigantic proportions during the dispute with Epic Games.
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Adam Kos Epic Games, the company behind the legendary game Fortnite, has added its own payment method for purchasing in-game currency to this title, thereby bypassing the traditional procedure and conditions of the App Store. In such a case, individual players had two options – either they would buy the currency in the traditional way, or they would make the purchase directly through Epic Games for a lower amount. It is therefore not surprising that Apple pulled the game from its store, after which a long court battle began. We have already covered this topic here. Rather, the question arises as to whether such criticism is even appropriate. In fact, other app stores follow a very similar approach.
Microsoft has a "solution"
At the same time, Microsoft has now made itself heard, around which there is now huge attention thanks to the acquisition of Activision Blizzard for a record amount. As governments gradually try to regulate app stores, Microsoft says that even before any regulation, it will itself bring major changes to the entire market. Specifically, there are 11 promises that can be divided into 4 categories:
- Quality, safety, security and privacy
- Responsibility
- Fairness and transparency
- Developer's choice
Microsoft
Although this step seems to be the answer at first glance and Microsoft would clearly deserve some recognition, as is the case, the famous saying applies here: "All that glitters is not gold." But before we get to that, let's tell yourself the very foundation that Microsoft present. According to him, he wants to provide developers and players with safe access to the store and all its benefits, while maintaining high standards. By doing so, he could avoid the criticism facing Apple. This is because the official Microsoft Store will open up more, thanks to which it will also accept alternative payment methods. This is therefore a diametrically different approach than the one the Cupertino giant is using with its App Store. But it has a huge catch. Of the total 11 promises, the giant applies only 7 to its own Xbox Store. In addition, it intentionally leaves out four promises, all from the Developer Choice category, which are directly related to solving problems with payment methods. This is what Apple most often encounters in connection with the 30% share.
The whole thing seems extremely strange. Fortunately, Microsoft has an explanation for this situation, but the question remains whether it will satisfy the players themselves. It is reportedly selling its consoles at a loss in order to build a large ecosystem of gamers and provide opportunities for developers and others. After all, because of this, there are currently no plans to adjust the payment systems in the Xbox store, or until everything is resolved by the appropriate legislation. Everyone must realize that this step is quite hypocritical when Microsoft wants to dictate terms to others without respecting them. Especially considering that this is a rather sensitive topic.
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