Mobile publishers are moving payments to their own web shops
Apple and Google have long taken up to 30% of what players spend inside mobile games. A sale moved to a web shop keeps most of that with the publisher. The same companies run the same games, and keep more of each dollar.
What is a web shop?
A web shop is a store a game's publisher runs on the web, where players buy in-game content to use on their phones or PCs. The industry calls these sales direct-to-consumer, or D2C.
Latest figure · Q2 2026
$286.9 million
What Playtika took through its own direct-to-consumer platforms in the second quarter of 2026. Its total revenue that quarter was $731.1 million.
Where it stands
Since a US court barred Apple in April 2025 from taking a cut of sales made through a link out of an app, mobile publishers have been moving players to their own web shops. Playtika's direct sales rose 63.1% in a year, to $286.9 million of $731.1 million in the second quarter of 2026. Stillfront now takes 46% of its bookings directly. Casino games lead. A survey by Appcharge, which handles such payments, puts direct sales at about 15% of mobile in-app spending in 2025.
Flat near $175 million a quarter until mid-2025, Playtika's direct sales then rose by almost two thirds in a year, to $286.9 million in the second quarter of 2026.
SourcePlaytika Holding Corp.'s quarterly results
| Year | What Playtika sold directly to players each quarter, $ millions |
|---|---|
| Q1 2024 | 171.5 |
| Q2 2024 | 173.7 |
| Q3 2024 | 174.4 |
| Q4 2024 | 174.6 |
| Q1 2025 | 179.2 |
| Q2 2025 | 175.9 |
| Q3 2025 | 209.3 |
| Q4 2025 | 250.1 |
| Q1 2026 | 291.8 |
| Q2 2026 | 286.9 |
Timeline
2025
A US court bars Apple from taking a cut of sales made outside its store
A federal judge rules in April 2025 that Apple cannot take a commission on payments made outside the App Store, and cannot stop US apps from pointing players to them. For the first time, a US game can send its players to its own web shop and keep the whole sale.
Epic opens web shops to any game and keeps nothing on the first $1 million
Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, launches Epic Web Shops, which let developers sell in-game items to players on phones and PCs. Developers keep all of the first $1 million in net revenue per game each year, and do not have to sell the game on Epic's store.
Take-Two rolls out direct payments in its mobile games
Take-Two, which expects its mobile label Zynga to bring in about 46% of its bookings for the year, tells investors that after recent legal changes its teams have rolled out technology for direct transactions and new ways to pay. It expects the channel to expand bookings and margins meaningfully.
Take-Two Interactive, second-quarter fiscal 2026 conference call remarks (6 November 2025)
Playtika's direct sales jump 19% in a quarter
Playtika, the Israeli maker of Bingo Blitz and Solitaire Grand Harvest, reports a record $209.3 million from its own direct-to-consumer platforms in the third quarter of 2025, up 19.0% on the quarter before and 20.0% on a year earlier.
Playtika Holding Corp., third-quarter 2025 results (6 November 2025)
2026
Stillfront takes 46% of its bookings directly
Stillfront, the Swedish owner of Big Farm and Empire, says 46% of its bookings in the second quarter of 2026 went through its own payment platforms, up from 39% a year earlier. Its app-store share fell from 49% to 42%.
Stillfront Group, interim report for the second quarter of 2026 (24 July 2026)
Playtika's direct sales rise 63.1% in a year
Playtika takes $286.9 million through its own platforms in the second quarter of 2026, out of $731.1 million in revenue. Direct sales are up 63.1% on a year earlier, while revenue as a whole is up 5.0%.
Playtika Holding Corp., second-quarter 2026 results (6 August 2026)
Monopoly Go makes over a third of its US revenue in its web shop
Sensor Tower estimates that Monopoly Go took $143 million from US players in June 2026, of which $52.6 million came through its own web shop. Web shop sales grew 41% over the first half of 2026 while sales in the app stores fell 25%.
DoubleDown passes half its casino sales direct
PocketGamer.biz tallies what publishers reported for the second quarter of 2026. DoubleDown Interactive now takes 52.4% of its social casino revenue directly, up from 15.4% a year earlier. Modern Times Group takes 38%, and Playstudios 34.4% of its virtual currency sales.
Sensor Tower finds casino games lead, and gets ready to sell the numbers
Sensor Tower, which sells app-market estimates, says some mobile games now take more than 30% of sales directly. In its US study of the first half of 2026, about 30% of the revenue of the top 100 casino games came from outside the app stores, and puzzle and strategy games took little. It is preparing a feature that estimates web shop revenue.
Consequences
012025
Direct sales hold up margins
Playtika's executives say so of their own business. Its finance chief, Craig Abrahams, told investors that "a growing direct-to-consumer mix is protecting margins", and its chief executive named growing that mix as company strategy.
Playtika Holding Corp., third-quarter 2025 results (6 November 2025)
022025
A 30% fee becomes a fee of 3% to 4%
Naavik, writing with the payments firm Neon as its partner, argues that publishers are moving revenue from the stores' 30% fees to payment processing fees of 3% to 4%. Cutting prices on the web shop grows its share fast, it warns, but risks shrinking revenue by lowering what each player spends.
Naavik, Abhimanyu Kumar, Andrew Dubatowka and Jukka Hilvonen (23 November 2025)
032026
Players are paid to move
Stillfront says the move to its own payment platforms is "primarily driven by players actively being incentivized" to switch. It lowers reported revenue but raises profit on each sale: gross margin rose to 84% from 82%, which Stillfront puts down to the higher direct share.
Stillfront Group, interim report for the second quarter of 2026 (24 July 2026)
042026
App-store charts now miss the money
Sensor Tower puts mobile game spending in the app stores at about $40 billion in the first half of 2026, down 2% on a year earlier. Its estimates count only store revenue, so a game that moves its players to a web shop looks as if it is shrinking.
Objections
Counterpoint2025
The free link in the US may not stay free
An appeals court upheld the contempt finding in December 2025 but ruled that Apple may charge a commission on sales made through a link out, based on the costs genuinely and reasonably necessary to run those links, with some payment for its intellectual property. The trial judge has still to set it.
US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Epic Games v. Apple, No. 25-2935 (11 December 2025)
Counterpoint2026
The market total comes from a vendor's survey
The widely quoted figure of $17 billion, about 15% of the $113.3 billion spent inside mobile games in 2025, comes from a survey by GDC and Appcharge. Appcharge handles direct-to-consumer payments for game publishers. The mobile findings rest on 130 respondents in charge of mobile games.
Counterpoint2026
Small studios save less than the headline
At a Pocket Gamer Connects panel of payment companies, Xsolla's Inês Ramalho said most developers save only a few percentage points in practice. Worldline's Jonas Martins advised most smaller studios to aim for 15% to 20% of sales direct, and Breeze's Peter Gerson said payment processing, tax, compliance and customer service all cost money and people.
Counterpoint2026
In Europe, a link out still pays Apple 15%
Apple charges a commission of 15% on purchases that App Store apps in the European Union complete by linking out, from 1 October 2026. Only in the US is the link free today.
What to watch
2026
Stillfront's third-quarter report
23 October 2026, when Stillfront reports its third quarter. It will show whether the share of bookings through its own payment platforms keeps climbing past 46%.
Stillfront Group, interim report for the second quarter of 2026 (24 July 2026)
2026
Playtika's third-quarter results
Early November 2026, when Playtika usually reports its third quarter. Its direct sales fell 1.7% from the first quarter to the second, the first fall in a year. The results add the next point to this chart.
Playtika Holding Corp., second-quarter 2026 results (6 August 2026)
2026
Epic answers Apple in the Supreme Court
13 November 2026, when Epic's brief is due in Apple's appeal to the Supreme Court, which agreed on 30 June 2026 to hear part of it. A win for Apple could let it charge for sales made through a link out in the US again.
Supreme Court of the United States, docket No. 25-1311 (read 30 September 2026)
Further reading
- ReportingSensor Tower reveals the hidden impact of D2C revenue in mobile gamespocketgamer.biz
- AnalysisThe New Reality of Mobile DTC Paymentsnaavik.co
- PrimaryInterim Report Q2 2026stillfront.com
Where to follow it Playtika and Stillfront quarterly results, PocketGamer.biz, mobilegamer.biz, Naavik, Sensor Tower
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- Console makers are keeping games exclusive again
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