Chinese developer of hugely popular mobile game Genshin Impact twice tried to dodge Apple's 30% discount on in-app purchases, according to a new report.
This is despite the close relationship between gaming giant miHoYo and Apple, including numerous awards, a personal visit from CEO Tim Cook and two of the company's games in development. presented during the presentation of the iPhone 15 …
Genshin Impact
Back To In 2020, Genshin Impact was awarded Apple's iPhone Game of the Year award, and a year later also won the award for Best Visuals and Best Graphics. Game graphics at the Apple Design Awards. The company said its “exciting battle scenes and expansive landscapes push the visual boundaries of mobile gaming.”
It was one of the first games to feature the 120fps mode made possible by the display that same year ProMotion on iPhone 13 Pro and iPad Pro, and a year later it was named the most downloaded action game.
Earlier this year, Apple CEO Tim Cook visited the company and met the team behind the game, and just last month, two more miHoYo games were featured in the iPhone 15 keynote as Apple used them to showcase the A17's AAA gaming capabilities. chip in Pro models.
Developer miHoYo tried to avoid paying twice Apple
But despite this symbiotic relationship, The China Project reported that the developer tried to avoid paying Apple's 30% cut for in-app purchases—not once, but twice.
miHoYo's own recent attempts to circumvent Apple's rules began in August through the official community forum app Mǐyóushè 米游社, where fans of its flagship games such as Genshin Impact and its latest release Honkai: Star Rail are given exclusive access to promotions. and everything related to their favorite games.
The move was low-key and low-key: rather than publicly launching and promoting an entirely new payment channel, miHoYo has reportedly instructed customer service staff to directed users to earn money. -purchasing games through the miHoYo website, where they could directly purchase digital goods without Apple cutting off sales.
Apple responded by removing the forum app from the App Store, but miHoYo did not&# 8217 ;Have not tried.
On August 30, miHoYo introduced a new mini-program in Alipay. Like its short-lived predecessor, the new payment method launched with little fanfare beyond brief posts about it on the social network Weibo. However, Apple disabled the feature for iPhone users on September 11.
That appears to be it for now, but game research firm Niko Partners thinks others will try it too.
With its foray into self-payments, miHoYo joins a growing cohort of global companies that are “making a concerted effort to increase the number of in-game purchases outside of traditional app stores.” to increase gross margins,” Ahmad told The China Project […]
[He added] “We expect to see further challenges in the Chinese market, not just from the gaming industry. ”
