- Here are the five hottest stories on the site right now
Start your week right with our quick take on the stories that are impacting the mobile industry right now.
To help get you primed and ready for another week in mobile gaming, we’ve curated the biggest stories you need to know from the last seven days.
1) Apple 30% fee extends to Instagram and Facebook ads worldwide today
Apple has extended its infamous 30% fee to include advertising costs on iOS devices, namely applying fees to advertisers purchasing ads on Facebook and Instagram apps. It’s a move that was first introduced in the US this February and has now rolled out globally.
To avoid this fee, Meta has advised advertisers to use browsers instead of apps – facebook.com and instagram.com – as Apple’s latest fees should not apply as they would in-app, even on iOS devices.
2) Supercell’s Squad Busters hits $24m net revenue in first 30 days
Supercell’s Squad Busters generated $24 million in net revenue and $34 million gross in its first 30 days, according to Sensor Tower estimates. In this first month, the long-awaited title also accumulated 40 million downloads.
Consumer spending and downloads were both led by the US in Squad Busters’ first month. While Germany and France followed in spending, it was Indonesia and Brazil that rounded out the top three for downloads. However, in-game revenue quickly fell in the weeks following launch.
3) Apple’s store police just rejected Epic’s App Store submission
Epic Games submitted Fortnite and the Epic Games Store to Apple for notarisation while awaiting launch in the next few months in the EU, but Apple rejected that submission and caused even more friction with the developer.
Epic shared its concerns with the European Commission, hoping to bring the power of the DMA down upon Apple, and the tech giant quickly unrejected the application, informing Epic that it has now been accepted.
4) Pokémon Go catches nearly $8 billion in eight years
As of its eighth anniversary last week, Niantic’s Pokémon Go has generated $7.9 billion in lifetime gross revenue across Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store, according to AppMagic estimates. This means Go has earned almost $1 billion per year since 2016.
Although the past year saw Go’s lowest in-app revenue since 2017, this could be attributed to the rise of Niantic’s web shop – where earnings are unknown – as opposed to an actual decline in player spending.
Then again, even a game as big as Pokémon Go always has room to improve…
5) Rumour: Apple is delaying its plans for an East Coast campus by four years
Apple has reportedly paused its plans for a new hub at Research Triangle Park – a project that has been estimated to create 2,700 new jobs when completed. It’s a blow to North Carolina’s prospective job market, with Apple suspected to be delaying its incentive deal by four years.
The hub has already been in planning for three years and Apple expanded its team by more than 600 people in North Carolina’s capital city, Raleigh. But this delay doesn’t mean the project has been scrapped altogether.
