Media: the authors of Genshin Impact tried to circumvent the App Store commission. They did not succeed
The Chinese company miHoYo, which developed Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, is looking for ways not to pay a 30% commission to the App Store, according to the publication The China Project. It reports that miHoYo has tried to circumvent the store's rules at least twice.
The first attempt was made by miHoYo in early August 2023. She has published an application of the official forum of the company on the App Store, in which fans of her games can communicate with each other, as well as get exclusive access to promotions. According to The China Project, technical support staff advised gamers to make in-game purchases through the miHoYo website, and not through stores in iOS versions of titles. Soon the app disappeared from the App Store. It returned four days later, but tech support staff stopped recommending bypassing the App Store system.
The company made its second attempt on August 30. Then miHoYo added a mini-app to Alipay that allowed in-game purchases without an App Store commission. On September 11, Apple disabled this feature for iPhone owners.
According to the AppMagic analytical service, to date, the revenue of all miHoYo titles in the App Store from in-game purchases is $3.7 billion (after payment of store fees and taxes). Most of the amount is accounted for by Genshin Impact. The revenue of its iOS version exceeds $2.6 billion.
