Genshin Impact, featured even in the iPhone 15 presentation, tried to circumvent Apple’s long-debated 30% App Store commission. Apple caught Genshin Impact in the act of trying to escape this commission. Here are the details…

Apple’s Commission Policy Challenged by Genshin Impact

miHoYo, a Chinese mobile game studio, is the developer behind the recent smash hit, Genshin Impact. This game company, which has had a good relationship with Apple until now, attempted to bypass the App Store’s 30% commission. As many know, Apple only allows in-app payments within its own system, requiring apps and games to pay 30% of those transactions to Apple. Using their own payment systems is prohibited.

Apple, having previously had a legal battle with Epic over Fortnite and subsequently removing it from the App Store, caught Genshin Impact employing a similar tactic to evade the 30% fee. Strangely, Apple detected this ploy twice. The first attempt appeared in August when miHoYo activated a new payment method on its website. Through a link in their forum app, players could make in-game purchases without paying the Apple Store commission. However, Apple noticed this at the end of August and removed the Genshin Impact forum app from the App Store.

Later on, miHoYo introduced a payment method via AliPay that didn’t include the 30% commission. But in early September, Apple disabled this feature for iPhone users.

The fact that Apple did not take drastic measures like removing Genshin Impact from the App Store after these commission dodging attempts indicates a close relationship between the two companies. Genshin Impact ranks among the most popular games for iPhone users.

The game’s high graphics expectations and compatibility with the iPhone are also important to Apple. Furthermore, Tim Cook previously visited miHoYo’s headquarters. However, these successive attempts to circumvent payment could strain the relationship between the two entities.