Sony must face a mass lawsuit worth up to 6.3 billion pounds ($7.9 billion) over claims the PlayStation maker abused its dominant position leading to unfair prices for customers, a London tribunal ruled on Tuesday.
The standard 30% cut hardware makers all seem to charge developers really is obnoxious. I know consoles are sold at a loss (at least at the start of the life cycle) but Apple doesn’t seem like they sell anything at a loss. It’s hard to argue all these companies are competing on price and just independently decided on 30%.
And, in practice, it seems like it’s only small and mid-size developers paying the full digital store tax. The Google antitrust trial had examples of sweetheart deals for large companies (like Spotify not paying the tax) that no indie developer can even try to negotiate. I imagine Sony and Microsoft give special rates to major studios.
All apps distributed on Google Play that are offering in-app purchases of digital goods need to use Google Play’s billing system.
Never had to use Google Play’s billing when making purchases on Audible, Netflix, etc. These apps should ideally be removed for violation of the policy, but then the rules are only for the small guy.
The standard 30% cut hardware makers all seem to charge developers really is obnoxious. I know consoles are sold at a loss (at least at the start of the life cycle) but Apple doesn’t seem like they sell anything at a loss. It’s hard to argue all these companies are competing on price and just independently decided on 30%.
And, in practice, it seems like it’s only small and mid-size developers paying the full digital store tax. The Google antitrust trial had examples of sweetheart deals for large companies (like Spotify not paying the tax) that no indie developer can even try to negotiate. I imagine Sony and Microsoft give special rates to major studios.
Never had to use Google Play’s billing when making purchases on Audible, Netflix, etc. These apps should ideally be removed for violation of the policy, but then the rules are only for the small guy.