Gaming
Apple Cut EU App Store Fees to 5 Percent and the Mobile Store Wars Enter a New Round
Apple is rewriting its EU App Store economics for the second time in under three years. Starting October 1, developers distributing through alternative marketplaces or the web will pay a flat 5 percent Core Technology Commission, replacing the old per install Core Technology Fee that charged developers before their apps earned a single euro.
The full schedule runs four tiers. Apps using Apple's own in app purchase system pay 26 percent, or 15 percent for small businesses and subscriptions past year one. Alternative payment processing pays 20 percent, dropping to 10 percent for qualifying small developers. Purchases completed through an external link pay 15 percent, dropping to 10 percent. Alternative marketplaces and web distribution sit at the new flat 5 percent.
Regulators forced every step of it. The European Commission fined Apple 500 million euros in April 2025 for violating the Digital Markets Act's anti steering rules, and the EU General Court upheld Apple's gatekeeper designation in July 2026. Google settled its own Epic dispute earlier in 2026, dropping Play Store commissions to 20 percent, as low as 10 percent with third party billing.
Epic Games, whose 2020 lawsuit started the chain, called the new charges junk fees that leave the mobile ecosystem closed. The company has a point on the in app tiers, and a business riding on the outcome. The Epic Games Store has crossed 1.16 billion dollars in revenue with 78 million users, and its EU mobile ambitions depend on third party distribution being commercially viable in practice, as well as technically permitted.
The trend line is the real story. Every revision of the platform tax moves the number down. Steam still holds at 30 percent on PC, Epic holds at 12 percent, and mobile is converging toward the teens. For game studios, a few points of commission compound across millions of small in app purchases, so the direction of travel is what counts.
Apple also loosened who can run a rival store. The old requirements of an EU legal entity and a one million euro standby letter of credit are gone, replaced by a moderate financial stability bar, venture backing, or a clean audit. That opens the door to stores from smaller companies.
For players, cheaper distribution means more of every euro reaches the studio making the game, which means more games get made. The store wars are slow, but they are moving in the right direction.
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