Apple to introduce subscription model for App Store games

Developers will soon be able to offer paid subscriptions to their iOS titles.

Ahead of Apple’s WWDC dev conference, executive Phil Schiller told The Verge that the company would introduce support for a subscription business model to the App Store.

Under the new model, the standard 70/30 revenue share would remain in place for the first 12 months after launch.

After that, Apple will reduce its take by 15 per cent per each user that stays subscribed for longer than a year.

In addition, app subscriptions will be overhauled with new pricing tier options, allowing devs to charge different amounts in varying territories.

Schiller responded to concerns over the move by some devs to offer subscriptions outside of the App Store ecosystem to dodge the cost of the 30 per cent ‘Apple Tax’, insisting that the lower 15 per cent split wasn’t positioned as a response to developer backlash.

"It wasn’t done from a negative like that,” he said. “[It was] absolutely done because we recognise that developers do a lot of work to retain a customer over time in a subscription model, and we wanted to reward them for that by helping them to keep more of the revenue."

The subscription model will be implemented this Autumn, but apps already offering on-going subscriptions through another method will see their revenue rise in line with the new agreement from June 13th.