Why Mobile Games Should Stop Focusing on Apple and Google’s 30% Fees in 2026

As Epic challenges the incumbent mobile tech giants behind iOS and Android over their platform monetizing policies one thing has become clear: the lower fees promised to app developers are only part of the story.

Over the past year, a series of court rulings, regulatory changes, and platform policy updates have reshaped how games can sell directly to players. 

• In the U.S., ongoing legal pressure has forced Apple and Google to loosen restrictions around linking to external payment flows. Though the court cases and discussions are ongoing and unlikely to end anytime soon.

• In Europe, the Digital Markets Act has opened the door to alternative commerce models on mobile. 

• Similar shifts are unfolding across other regions, accelerating the adoption of direct-to-consumer (D2C) strategies across mobile, PC, and cross-platform games in places like Japan, Brazil, and other markets.

Much of the industry conversation has centered on what these changes mean financially. Coverage has focused on commissions, revenue share, and how much more developers can retain per transaction. 

For studios navigating tightening margins, those numbers matter.

But they don’t explain the full impact of what’s changed.

D2C regulations didn’t just lower fees. They quietly changed who owns the player relationship.

Founded to help game developers monetize directly through web-based storefronts, Tebex has spent more than a decade operating at the intersection of games, payments, and player commerce. 

Today, we work with studios and publishers across mobile, PC, cross-platform, and live-service games, supporting direct payments for everything from cosmetic items and currencies to subscriptions and UGC-driven economies.

As D2C adoption has accelerated, we’ve seen our game developer and publisher partners evolve their monetization strategy into a broader layer focused on player engagement, deeper relationships, and delighting loyal players.

D2C Without a One-Size-Fits-All Playbook

The studios seeing the strongest long-term impact from D2C aren’t treating it as a single mechanic or a universal template. They’re treating it as an extension of how their game already operates - its community, its creators, and its economy.

That’s how Tebex’s biggest partners differ in their approach in direct-to-consumer monetization.

Rather than forcing studios into a rigid storefront or monetization model, Tebex and the studio adapts a custom webstore to how each game engages players, rewards participation, and sustains its ecosystem over time.

In practice, there are a few consistent themes that show up across our partners:

• Community-led monetization, not isolated transactions
  

For many games, the most valuable player moments don’t happen inside a store. They happen in Discord, during live events, or through community milestones.

Supporting D2C flows that plug directly into these environments with rewards, exclusive offers, and experiences that are aligned with the community culture enhance the developer-player relationship.

• Creator-driven economies that scales trust

Games with strong creator ecosystems are increasingly turning to D2C to empower them as a foundation for community building.

Creator Codes allow studios to reward creators and influencers, track impact, and align incentives without fragmenting the player experience. Hytale used creator codes to support a creator economy from day 1 to generate over 10% of total game purchases in the first week.

• White-glove moderation as a growth enabler
  

As monetization expands into webstores and UGC, moderation becomes a core part of the commerce experience and both a potential growth opportunity and a risk.

Tebex’s roots in UGC economies mean moderation is built into the service from the foundation, not an afterthought or add-on for a price. That support allows studios to experiment with new offers and community-driven monetization models while protecting players and the integrity of the game.

• Discovery and engagement beyond the store itself
  

Through the Overwolf ecosystem, Tebex partners can connect commerce to discovery, player acquisition, and engagement surfaces that already reach highly active gamers.

The result is D2C that’s woven into how players find, return to, and stay invested in the game - not just how they pay.

Our ‘front row’ view into how innovative studios and publishers use D2C monetization reveals a gap between the D2C headlines in the news - and their focus on cost saving as the main value - and its true potential in practice.

The Industry’s D2C Conversation Is Stuck on Margins

Public discussion around D2C has largely framed it as a financial optimization. Headlines and commentary emphasize reduced platform commissions, improved revenue share, and the percentage of revenue developers can retain under new regulatory regimes.

These conversations frequently reference policy changes, regional fee adjustments, and updated platform rules as validation for the shift. While those details provide useful context, they tend to anchor D2C firmly as a cost-saving exercise.

What’s missing is a broader view of what direct ownership changes beyond the transaction itself.

Through adoption of D2C and webstores, we’ve seen our game developer and publisher partners evolve their monetization strategy into a broader layer focused on player engagement, deeper relationships, and delighting loyal players: 

• Leading partners successfully transition 30% or more of their traffic to their D2C webstore during purchasing using in-game callouts 

• Offering personalized packages based on real player activity, not just segmentation

• Engaging buyers with abandoned cart reminders or special discounts for payers that are debating checking out

• Ruthlessly removing friction from the checkout experience with features like saved payment methods

• Our partner Hytale - developed by Hypixel Studios - leveraged Tebex’s extensive payer base by enabling saved payments.  Many buyers could purchase Hytale through a friction-free single click checkout, even when they were new buyers of the game and never interacted with a Hypixel Studios store before 

When D2C is evaluated primarily through margins, it risks being treated as a tactical workaround rather than a structural shift in how studios engage players.

Games Aren’t Products Anymore - They’re Long-Lived Platforms

Modern games increasingly operate as ongoing platforms rather than discrete products. 

Live updates, seasonal content, community events, UGC layers, and cross-platform progression have extended how long players stay engaged - and how often they interact with monetization systems.

In this model, spending is not a one-off decision. Players return to stores repeatedly over time, forming expectations around ease, trust, and consistency. The way a game presents spending opportunities, supports preferred payment methods, and removes friction becomes part of the overall relationship between studio and player.

Frictionless, player-centric commerce experiences don’t just affect conversion. They shape how players perceive the game itself and the studio behind it.

What Regulations Actually Unlocked for Gaming

Recent regulatory changes didn’t simply alter fee structures. They created space for studios to engage players through additional channels beyond in-platform or in-app purchases alone.

• Special offers that reflect an in-games seasonal theme, instead of existing outside of it

• Personalized store experiences that are tailored to each player’s real activity, not just a segmented group

• Customized checkouts and rewards that underpin a feeling of belonging and community, even during transactions, not just before and after

D2C introduces a parallel environment where studios can design experiences on their own terms - from how offers are presented to how players move through checkout and beyond. This added channel allows studios to experiment, personalize, and engage players in ways that are difficult or impossible within app-store constraints.

Rather than replacing existing platforms, D2C gives studios another surface to surprise players, reinforce trust, and deepen engagement across the player journey.

Tebex

As our partners’ use of D2C has evolved, Tebex’s role as the extension of their studio has expanded accordingly.

What began as Tebex’s payment solution for direct monetization has evolved into a broader payment, community, and player engagement layer focused on how players discover new and unique offers and how to engage players in new, creative ways.

Through our work with developers and studios operating across both mobile and PC, we’ve had a ‘front-row view’ into how embracing D2C has unlocked new capabilities and customer experiences. Not just lower fees or larger margins.