Latest news with #JoostvanDreunen
The Star
3 days ago
- Business
- The Star
Mobile-game makers poised for windfall following win over Apple
As part of a years-long dispute between Fortnite developer Epic Games Inc and Apple, Rogers last month ordered the iPhone maker to let developers sell their wares outside of the company's store, where most transactions are subject to a 15% to 30% commission. — Reuters Mobile-game developers may reap billions of dollars more in revenue this year as a result of a court ruling freeing them from rules imposed by Apple Inc's App Store. Aldora Intelligence, led by industry analyst Joost van Dreunen, estimates that US$4.1bil (RM17.40bil) in revenue could shift from Apple to developers, based on 2024 figures from the top 25 mobile-game publishers. More of the billions spent each year on digital currencies and items will end up in the hands of individuals and companies that create mobile games. As part of a years-long dispute between Fortnite developer Epic Games Inc and Apple, US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers last month ordered the iPhone maker to let developers sell their wares outside of the company's store, where most transactions are subject to a 15% to 30% commission. Over the next few years, developers could reap as much as US$19.5bil (RM17.40bil) more in revenue that would have gone to app stores, according to Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Securities. Video-game companies may reinvest the money in attracting new players, who in turn could spend more on digital items like tools that help them advance. "These guys are going to make more money because Apple's going make less, dollar for dollar,' Pachter said. Already, some developers are offering players incentives to navigate away from Apple and make purchases elsewhere. In 2020, Apple barred the popular shooter title Fortnite from the App Store store after Epic Games linked to a website offering discounts on its digital V-Bucks currency. "There was always a concern with Apple that, if you offered a discount for a purchase out of the store, they'd kill the app' said Adam Smart, global director of product for market researcher AppsFlyer. In a report Wednesday, Aldora estimated the commissions mobile-game developers pay to app stores will decline by a third to about 20%. Aside from Epic Games and, occasionally, Microsoft Corp, mobile-game developers have been shy about discussing the impact of fees on their businesses. Top publishers like Take-Two Interactive Software Inc, Electronic Arts Inc, Roblox Corp, Scopely Inc and Supercell, owned by Tencent Holdings Ltd, declined to comment on the court ruling. Microsoft, which owns the King mobile games business, announced plans to open its own store last July, but the launch has been delayed. In a court brief filed by Microsoft, a representative said the company had been "stymied by Apple'. Take-Two, which reported US$730mil (RM 3.10bil) in mobile bookings last quarter, has created web stores for popular games including Empires & Puzzles and Zynga Poker . On a recent earnings call, chief executive officer Strauss Zelnick told analysts its direct-to-consumer stores have "become a significant and, indeed, material part of our business'. The recent court ruling reflects movement toward a more open app distribution ecosystem – "all positive signs for us,' he added. Like other mobile-game publishers, Zynga experienced a downturn earlier this decade. After Apple implemented privacy changes in 2021 that made it harder for mobile game developers to find audiences for their apps, mobile-game revenue fell 7% industrywide. The ruling won't only enrich app developers. Payments managers like Xsolla Inc and Stash have set up direct-to-consumer web stores for mobile-gaming companies with far lower commissions. On its website, Xsolla has created a calculator that lets developers figure out how much additional revenue they'll receive based on the share of business that leaves Apple and pays through its processing system, which takes a 5% fee. "It's a competitive industry fighting for the same customers,' said Justin Kan, co-founder of Stash. "If you have a way to substantially change your margin, you can't ignore it.' – Bloomberg
Bloomberg
4 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Mobile-Game Makers Poised for Windfall Following Win Over Apple
Mobile-game developers may reap billions of dollars more in revenue this year as a result of a court ruling freeing them from rules imposed by Apple Inc. 's App Store. Aldora Intelligence, led by industry analyst Joost van Dreunen, estimates that $4.1 billion in revenue could shift from Apple to developers, based on 2024 figures from the top 25 mobile-game publishers. More of the billions spent each year on digital currencies and items will end up in the hands of individuals and companies that create mobile games.
Hans India
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hans India
Fortnite Relaunched on Apple App Store After 5 Years Amid Epic Games Legal Battle
Fortnite is now back on the Apple App Store in the US after being removed nearly five years ago. The game was taken down in August 2020 because it broke Apple's rules by using its own payment system, which avoided Apple's 30% fee on in-app purchases. This led to a legal battle between Epic Games (the creator of Fortnite) and Apple, with Epic claiming the fee was unfair and accusing Apple of controlling the App Store like a monopoly. Fortnite made the announcement on X, saying the game is available in the US App Store, the Epic Games Store, and the AltStore in the European Union. They also added that it will appear in Search soon. Apple did not respond to requests for comment but has always stated that its rules are in place to protect users' security. This news is seen as a win for Epic Games, after a long legal fight with Apple. Joost van Dreunen, a professor at NYU Stern, said this shows that creators and publishers now have more power to challenge old business models. Fortnite was blocked last week from app stores around the world after Apple apparently stopped an update. However, the game returned to the EU App Store in January after being absent for four years due to a new law aimed at increasing competition. Google, which also removed Fortnite in 2020 over the payment issue, lifted its ban last year, allowing the game back on its app store. Fortnite is very popular, with around 400 million registered players. Its most popular feature is the battle royale mode, where up to 100 players compete to be the last one standing.
Forbes
14-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
PlayStation Could Be Latest Gaming Console To Hike Prices Amid Trump Tariffs
Sony said Wednesday it may either hike prices on consumer goods or move its PlayStation manufacturing to the United States to ease the expected burden of President Donald Trump's tariff policy, possibly joining Nintendo and Microsoft in raising prices for gamers. Sony warned it may hike prices on consumer goods in an earnings call. (Photo credit should read ... More CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images) Sony CFO Lin Tao said during an earnings call Wednesday the tariffs will impact its hardware, gaming and semiconductor production, which may lead the company to increase prices on consumer goods, though she did not mention the PlayStation 5 by name. Hiroki Totoki, Sony's president, said the PlayStation 5, which is currently mostly produced in China, could instead be produced in the United States to avoid tariff hikes—though gaming publication Polygon reported moving its manufacturing capabilities could take years. Sony already hiked PlayStation 5 prices abroad following Trump's tariff announcement: The company raised the console price by 25% in Europe, Australia and New Zealand in April, citing 'a challenging economic environment, including high inflation and fluctuating exchange rates.' Joost van Dreunen, a New York University Stern School of Business professor who teaches about the business of video games, told Forbes that because Sony has 'raised prices everywhere except the U.S., it's safe to say that's where we're headed next.' Van Dreunen called Sony's possible pivot to U.S.-based manufacturing 'strategically fraught' because the company would have to coordinate labor, suppliers and other manufacturing logistics: 'Even if the PS5 and PS6 can be built domestically, it's not clear that it should be.' Sony projected lower PlayStation sales in the coming year with about 15 million units shipped, down from the 18.5 million units shipped in the year ending March 2025 and nearly 21 million the year prior. Also weighing on the PlayStation 5's outlook is the delay of the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto VI, Bloomberg reported, which was slated to release later this year but was pushed to May 2026, which could depress console sales. 'In the bigger picture, this is a warning shot for consumers: physical goods, especially high-end hardware, are going to get more expensive,' van Dreunen told Forbes, warning that 'companies need buffer room to manage profitability. That means higher prices.' On the same day Trump announced his 'Liberation Day' tariffs, affecting nearly every country, Nintendo announced the long-awaited sequel to its Switch gaming console, the Switch 2, at a higher price than many gamers and analysts expected. The console carries a $450 price tag, 50% higher than the $300 the original Switch cost at launch in 2017. Joost van Dreunen, a New York University Stern School of Business professor who teaches about the business of video games, previously told Forbes the high prices were likely set so Nintendo could build a buffer to mitigate impacts of tariffs, as the Switch consoles are primarily produced in China and Vietnam. Some upcoming games for the Switch 2, including 'Mario Kart World,' carry an $80 price tag, breaking the previous industry standard of $70 for games. Weeks later, Microsoft announced it would raise prices on its Xbox consoles by at least 20% per model, citing 'market conditions' and the rising costs of production. The cheapest Xbox console, the Series S with 512 GB of storage, jumped in price from $299.99 to $379.99, while the most expensive model, the Xbox Series X 2TB Galaxy Special Edition, rose from $599.99 to $729.99. The company also announced it would sell some of its games for $80 in time for the holiday season, following Nintendo's lead in breaking the previous $70 price standard. Matt Kahla, a gaming content creator with more than 660,000 TikTok followers, urged followers in a video to buy PlayStation consoles before any potential price increases and suggested Sony should keep prices below competitor companies to appeal to customers. DreamcastGuy, a video game streamer with more than 245,000 YouTube subscribers, said in a video Wednesday he fears video game prices won't go back down even if tariffs ease, criticizing Sony and other gaming companies for considering price increases that could make gaming 'prohibitively expensive.' Some gamers also criticized Sony's possible price hikes on Reddit. 'Remember when consoles became cheaper over time? Its been sooo long,' one of the top comments in a thread on Sony's possible price hikes in the gaming subreddit states. Other gamers in the Reddit thread accused gaming companies of using the tariffs as an excuse to raise prices and said the higher prices are not 'pro-consumer.' The United States and China announced a 90-day pause on their increasingly high tariff rates earlier this week, marking a reprieve to their trade war. The U.S. tariff rate on Chinese goods will drop from 145% to 30%, while China's tariffs on U.S. products will fall from 125% to 10%. Microsoft Hikes Xbox Prices—Games Hit $80 And Console Prices Jump More Than 20% (Forbes) US And China Agree To Roll Back Most Tariffs For 90 Days As Negotiations Continue (Forbes)
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Switch 2 price is a "strategic balancing act," and there's a reason why Japan is getting a separate model that's $110 cheaper than the US' $450 console, analysts suggest
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The Switch 2 is, unsurprisingly, not cheap. As revealed yesterday after the onslaught of Nintendo Switch 2 Direct news, the Switch's successor will cost $450 in the United States, while its games are as much as $80, and analysts think they might know why. That $450 price tag isn't a total shock – analysts previously predicted that it'd cost at least $400, so this tracks. Looking at the confirmed price now, a number of analysts have explained to IGN the potential reasons behind the console costing so much, with Joost van Dreunen, professor at NYU Stern School of Business and author behind the book One Up: Creativity, Competition, and the Global Business of Video Games, calling the pricing a "strategic balancing act." According to the professor, this balancing is partially about increased manufacturing costs, but Nintendo also "appears to be building in a buffer against these potential trade barriers" regarding tariffs. New tariffs were announced by US president Donald Trump just yesterday, hours after Nintendo's big reveals. On that point, games industry analyst at Ampere Analysis, Piers Harding-Rolls, suggests that Nintendo may not have included the price in the Direct itself as it could have had "a range of pricing for the US market in play up until the last minute due to the uncertainty on import tariffs." Since yesterday's Direct, people have also pointed out that there's a bit of a difference in the pricing of the Switch 2 in Japan as opposed to overseas. Specifically in Japan, as well as a multi-language system, a Japanese-language system is being launched for the equivalent of about $340 – notably $110 cheaper than the console's US price (and around $140 cheaper than the multi-language version in Japan) . Acknowledging this, Omdia analyst James McWhirter points out the importance of Nintendo's Japanese market (which he states "accounts for a quarter (24%) of the Nintendo Switch installed base in 2024"), and says: "If Switch 2 pricing in Japanese Yen was aligned with the US Dollar price, it would dramatically weaken Nintendo's position in Japan, representing a doubling in the list price over the classic LCD Nintendo Switch model." Alternatively, however, "if Nintendo continued to rely on region-specific pricing that is significantly cheaper in USD terms, they would face an issue with grey imports to other territories." Essentially, McWhirter speculates, selling the multi-language model at a more expensive price compared to the Japan-only model can "protect the Japanese market from grey imports from other territories," discouraging international customers from importing a console at a cheaper price from Japan. "Smart considering there are no other major console markets with a not insignificant number of people proficient in the Japanese language," he adds. The expense for fans won't end with the console, of course, with those upcoming Switch 2 games also set to be significantly more pricey than regular Switch releases. Another analyst, Circana's Mat Piscatella, has suggested that this could be the "new normal of pricing" for those in the US. Be sure to keep up with everything we know about Nintendo Switch 2 pre-orders if you want to get one of Nintendo's new consoles at launch. Sign in to access your portfolio
