A quick note on Patreon's new iOS pricing (Patreon)

Hey all!

You might have seen some news / social media stuff about Patreon and iOS. So I thought I would quickly explain how this might impact you and GMTK.

What's happening?

Apple has a rule whereby any time someone signs up to a subscription through an iOS app, Apple will get a 30% cut.

In November this will also apply to Patreon - meaning that Patreon creators will have to pay 30% of their donations to Apple (on top of the 5-8% they pay to Patreon) if that person signs up through the iOS app.

That's a massive chunk of change!

So Patreon is giving creators an option - they can either take the 30% hit themselves. Or they can increase their tier prices - but only for people who come through the iOS app.

Will this affect me (as a GMTK backer)?

Probably not, thankfully.

First: this has no impact on any existing Patreon pledges.

Second: This only impacts people who sign up to GMTK via the iOS app. So if you have an Android, or sign up through your browser, nothing will change.

(You can also then download the iOS app and log in to your Patreon account and get your benefits there - while still paying the normal price).

Will this affect GMTK?

Not really.

Because yes: I will be charging 30% more for anyone who signs up through the iOS app. And that sucks.

But come November I'll make sure to start telling people to sign up through their browser so they get a "discount".

And also, yes: this will have a pretty massive impact on people who use the "per creation" billing model (i.e. - Patreon accounts that only charge when they release a new game / song / video / etc) as Patreon apparently cannot do that with Apple's new rule.

But GMTK has been operating as a per-month Patreon for a very long time now. So I don't need to change anything.

Conclusion

While the impact on GMTK is small, this still sucks.

Because on the one hand: I get that Apple deserves a cut from purchases made via its store. And in a world where pretty much every app is free, the company is gonna want to make money from in-app purchases and subscriptions.

And also it can be sure that payments made inside of apps are always safe and secure, and not scams. The benefits of a walled garden.

But this approach also leads to weird draconian rules, uneven pricing, customer confusion ("huh? why is the price higher on iOS compared to Android?!"), and bad store experiences.

This is why you can't buy eBooks in the Kindle app or sign up to Netflix directly through the app. And it's why Epic, Spotify, and others are in constant legal struggles with Apple.

It's a huge bummer with no easy answer, but I feel for companies who have to upend their entire business strategy just for one platform.

Hope that clears it up. Here's a video from Patreon CEO Jack Conte. Drop any questions in the comments below and I'll do my best to answer.

Cheers! Game Jam starts Friday. New GMTK episode is well underway. And Mind Over Magnet comes out November 6th!

Mark