The mobile market is gradually restructuring after the Epic Games vs. Apple lawsuit. According to a joint study by the Appcharge platform and the organizers of the GDC Festival of Gaming, the volume of direct-to-consumer (D2C) sales to players, bypassing the App Store and Google Play, has already reached $17 billion.
Currently, D2C accounts for about 15% of the global mobile in-app purchase (IAP) market, which Newzoo analysts estimate at $113.3 billion. The industry is only gaining momentum: 92% of publishers expect revenue growth from direct sales in 2026, 41% predict double-digit growth, and 18% expect to increase revenue by more than 30%.
The implementation of alternative payment methods is already showing high efficiency. Companies actively developing the D2C direction saw a median revenue growth of 35%, while the industry average is 15%. In addition, 77% of publishers stated that direct sales perform at least as well as traditional app stores, and 63% of market leaders reported that they already outperform them in efficiency.
At the same time, Appcharge CEO Maor Sasson emphasized that saving on Apple and Google commissions is no longer the main goal for publishers. In his opinion, in the coming years, direct sales will become an industry standard for the most successful games:
"The main value is what happens when publishers finally gain direct control over their relationships with their players: access to clean data, flexibility in pricing and promotions, and the ability to give users real value. In a few years, we will stop perceiving D2C as an alternative — it will become the standard for the most successful games."
Platform holders are already trying to adapt to the new reality. In particular, Google is gradually revising the Play Store's commission policy: the company maintains preferential terms for small studios and introduces more flexible tariffs for large publishers, aiming to make Google Play Billing more attractive than launching their own D2C platforms.