Mobile Mavens: Direct-to-consumer strategies for an open App Store

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The US App Store has been cracked open following a judge’s ruling to allow linkouts to alternative payment systems while also banning anti-steering measures.

Meanwhile, Apple has been fined by the European Commission, which is also demanding the tech giant opens up its marketplace.

The proceedings have the potential to completely shift how monetisation works in Apple’s ecosystem. For developers, this means a more direct connection to their players and the potential to keep more revenue.

In this Mobile Mavens, we asked our industry experts what a winning DTC strategy looks like in mobile today. How much additional revenue is truly on the table and what best practices should developers adopt?

We previosuly asked our Mavens their initial thoughts on the policy change and we also heard from DTC leaders.

Apple’s new policy is a major win for mobile developers – especially those with loyal user bases and strong monetisation strategies. Being able to direct users to pay outside the App Store might seem like a small detail, but the impact on margins could be huge.

Let’s talk numbers: 

Today, developers lose up to 30% of their revenue on App Store fees. Moving payments to the web doesn’t mean they keep it all – payment providers still take 3% to 10% depending on volume and features – but that’s a net gain of 20% to 25% per transaction. 

If just 30% of in-app revenue moves off-platform (mostly from whales and high-LTV users), that could mean hundreds of thousands in extra revenue per year for mid-sized studios – and millions for the top players.

But this only works if you’re smart about it.

The studios that will win are thinking like DTC brands. That means:

Exclusive bundles and better value on the web. Offer bonus coins, exclusive skins or VIP perks. It needs to be a no-brainer for users to switch.

Building a clean, frictionless checkout. Don’t lose users to bad UX. Fast load times, mobile optimisation, local currencies – think Shopify-level polish.

Owning the relationship. With SKAN limitations and rising UA costs, DTC payment flows let you rebuild your CRM muscle. Capture email, run re-engagement campaigns, bring users back without paying Meta again.

Community-driven commerce. Studios with strong Discords or Reddit presence can turn those channels into monetisation platforms. I’ve seen early experiments with exclusive drops and direct sales that mirror what we saw in DTC fashion five years ago.

For VCs, this shift isn’t just about marginal gains, it’s about leverage. Studios that master this will have healthier unit economics, more predictable LTVs, and less platform dependency.

I expect we’ll start seeing higher valuations for teams that show they can convert players off-platform at scale – and a wave of M&A around tooling that enables it.

This is early innings, but the fundamentals are strong. Studios that adapt fast could gain a serious competitive edge.

This shift away from Apple’s commission structure opens up meaningful gains for gaming companies across the board.

Companies now have the chance to build direct, trusted relationships with their users. And in a direct-to-consumer world, the platforms that lead will be the ones that make trust, safety, and transparency a priority, not just afterthoughts.

We see this as a shift toward a more open, player-centric ecosystem, with the companies coming out on top being the ones that put people, especially young and vulnerable players, at the heart of their strategy.

With direct link-out, DTC is expanding even further beyond its traditional base in casino and midcore games, and I think the biggest impact will be felt in the expanding breadth of DTC.

While established DTC games will see major gains among their existing DTC audience, the bigger opportunity lies in market expansion – both in terms of new players who are now addressable and new games or genres. 

Casual games with high-frequency, low-consideration impulsive purchases can now implement DTC strategies that were previously impossible because direct link-out enables a DTC checkout flow within a continuous session.

So, if you want to continue that level, you can link out to a purchase and return to immediately continue the game. Match-three represents the clearest example: major players like King, Dream Games, and Peak have largely avoided DTC despite massive scale, precisely because their purchase patterns rely on seamless, spontaneous transactions that couldn’t survive traditional DTC friction.

In general, DTC success depends on balancing two factors: a player’s motivation to use DTC (over third-party platforms) and the inconvenience they face in doing so. It’s like a cost/benefit equation for the player, where the cost is the higher friction, and the benefit is the rewards or engagement they get in DTC channels. 

Historically, developers have had more opportunity to innovate on the “benefit” side – boosting motivation through loyalty programs, exclusive content, and social engagement – but now there is even more you can do to reduce friction.

I believe that DTC will never be as convenient as native IAP (DTC in other industries is almost always less convenient than third-party marketplaces too). As a result, developers will need to continue to think about how they motivate players to choose DTC, even though we can now make it much easier and more convenient.

That means rewards, loyalty, and other positive channel incentives and traffic drivers will remain crucial to a successful DTC strategy. 

What a difference a few days have made in this space. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers seemed to have no patience for Apple’s attempt to appeal her decision. A few days later, on May 21st, Fortnite was back on the Apple US Store, and their terms had been updated to say that you can now use external payment.

But I am still a little confused over how this is supposed to work over here – does  “Alternative Terms Addendum for Apps in the EU” still apply – does that mean we still have to pay a commission here? And is that even enforceable with the DMA? 

Personally, I can imagine developers – especially those without the legal firepower of Epic are going to remain cautious about taking up these provisions.

The opportunity when it is clear, however, is compelling when we see how Playtika’s DTC sales accounted for 26.8% of their revenue in Q4 2024. But how will this affect Apple’s (and other platforms) support for developers? How will this impact discovery? And will this lead to new off-platform retail channels?

I think most teams will need to play it safe and work with third party DTC providers for now – just to be sure that they don’t get caught up in the politics, legal and accounting requirements and issues like Age identification. 

There is massive potential for developers to create added value by moving payments outside the App Store. But simply rerouting users to a website isn’t enough. The best DTC approaches will deliver a seamless user experience – or better yet, feel native to the game or app.

Among the approaches that will stand out, we’re likely to see:

• Unified checkout & subscriptions – Developers who choose providers offering embedded solutions with seamless purchases, subscription management, and minimal processing fees will gain a clear advantage.
• New pricing strategies –More flexible models, including bundles, exclusive offers, and alternative payment methods beyond the App Store ecosystem.
• Thriving community-driven economies where game players can buy, sell, and trade in-game items directly, unlocking deeper engagement and new gameplay dynamics.

Developers could not only improve margins by one-fifth per transaction but also create new revenue streams that were previously stifled by platform restrictions.

Ultimately, this re-enables the games industry (and others) to have a more direct commercial relationship with their customer, which should drive better outcomes for both parties.