Google to Lower Play Store Commission to 15% on First $1 Million Earned by Developers Per Year

[UrbanJoe1]

Would you prefer each app be its own little city-state where your citizenship can be revoked because leadership decided to change who they support? Because that's what's happening with PC gaming right now. Epic is buying exclusives, Microsoft is delaying releases and pricing games higher on competing platforms, and official third-party stores are finding that developer agendas are controlling what keys are available for consumers. PC gaming is not a free market right now. Between hardware not being available, dual, triple, and quad-DRM restrictions, games being released without appropriate optimization, incomplete season passes, abandonware, lack of appropriate discounts, and incompatible DLC gamers are becoming more and more frustrated. Developers keep buying into these practices because sales are going down and customers are responding with frustration and contempt.

Allowing multiple apps stores on iOS is priming the platform to go through the same thing. Now, I might be able to back something where software is sold as a key and it can be redeemed and transferred to other stores. But if consumers don't have a choice in what store they get it from (exclusives) and prices and DLC don't decrease, and DRM isn't removed or reduced, then it's not a solution I would support.

This is the way the free market works. If enough people support and develop better alternatives they will exist and if not they won’t. Are we now going to classify access to digital gaming as a civil right? We need less monopoly and more competition for healthy markets & innovation (digital or otherwise). If a game is so addictive it’s causing a person psychological and social harm they need to get mental healthcare.