Apple isn't pulling its punches when it comes to its stance on Meta's plans to charge developers up to 47.5% on item sales within its emerging metaverse. As a matter of fact, it feels that the Facebook parent company's decision is "hypocritical."
Meta announced on Monday that it was testing new tools for creators to monetize products within the metaverse. But it also shared that it would be charging developers an additional 17.5% for goods sold in its social VR game Horizon Worlds. That extra cut comes on top of the company's existing Meta Quest Store platform fee of 30%, resulting in developers losing a total of nearly 50% of their profit on each virtual item sold.
Meta has previously been quite vocal about its disdain for Apple's 30% commission for in-app purchases – something Apple Senior Director of Corporate Communication Fred Sainz has called "hypocritical" in an email to MarketWatch.
"Meta has repeatedly taken aim at Apple for charging developers a 30% commission for in-app purchases in the App Store — and have used small businesses and creators as a scapegoat at every turn," Sainz said. "Now — Meta seeks to charge those same creators significantly more than any other platform. [Meta's] announcement lays bare Meta's hypocrisy. It goes to show that while they seek to use Apple's platform for free, they happily take from the creators and small businesses that use their own."
Blockparty CEO Vladislav Ginzburg weighed in on the subject to MarketWatch, saying, “Facebook keeps all media uploaded to it, retains all user data and owns every step of the process to sell to marketers. Rather than enable creators to share in the value they bring to Facebook, their goal is to take half of the sale. No thanks.”
Apple has certainly had its fair share of blowback for its 30% commissions, though. Epic even opened a "direct payment" option for Fortnite in-app purchases on mobile devices as a way for players to bypass what the publisher called "exorbitant" payment fees, prompting Apple to remove the game from its App Store in retaliation. The resulting legal battle, however, resulted in a judge ruling that Apple would have to allow outside payment options in its apps going forward.
Horizon Worlds, which launched in December of 2021 for Oculus Quest 2, is a metaverse-focused virtual reality game that allows players to chat, hang out, and purchase virtual assets. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed earlier this year that the game will be coming to mobile platforms at some point in 2022.
Billy Givens is a freelance writer at IGN.
