Apple In-App Price Hike Fallout... 'Bundling' Instead of Item Price Increase

Game Industry's Last Resort, States Intention to Maintain Item Prices as Much as Possible
Instead of Raising Individual Item Prices, 'Bundled Sales' Implemented
Some Items Receive Additional Currency Instead of Price Increase

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] Apple’s decision to raise prices within the App Store’s in-app purchase tiers has put the gaming industry in distress. Some game companies have expressed their intention to maintain current prices as much as possible, but due to the high rate of increase, it is difficult to absorb the losses blindly. As a result, some have resorted to bundling multiple items together to preserve profitability, leaving consumers no choice but to bear the full impact of Apple’s in-app purchase fee hike.

On the 6th, Apple adjusted app and in-app purchase prices in certain countries’ App Stores, including South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and Sweden. Apple sets a tier table ranging from levels 1 to 87 for product payments, and developers listed on the App Store have priced their products according to these tier standards. With this price increase policy, tier 1 prices have been revised from the previous 1,200 KRW to 1,500 KRW, tier 2 from 2,500 KRW to 3,000 KRW, and tier 3 from 3,900 KRW to 4,400 KRW, among others.

Price changes for game items and currencies have become inevitable. The previous 2,500 KRW price set in tier 2 no longer exists in the revised tier table. Developers now face the choice of either lowering content prices to tier 1 or raising them to 3,000 KRW. For now, major domestic game companies have stated their intention to maintain existing prices as much as possible by adjusting products or providing additional items. However, they have added caveats that product composition and prices may change in the future.

Nexon announced through its game notice, “To minimize confusion for users, we have decided to provide services by maintaining existing sales prices as much as possible.” It added, “However, since the existing sales prices do not exist within Apple’s new pricing policy, there may be cases where product composition and prices must be changed. We will provide detailed guidance on changes for each game before implementation.”

Kakao Games also stated, “Even with Apple App Store price increases, we have decided to maintain existing product sales prices as much as possible,” adding, “However, due to changes in pricing policy, some products may have slight differences in sales prices, and these products may have changes in product composition and sales prices.”

Netmarble changed prices identically on both Google Play Store and Apple App Store, increasing the amount of in-game currency provided for some price-increased products. For example, in ‘Lineage 2 Revolution,’ most products maintain their existing prices, but for those with about a 1,000 KRW price increase, additional currencies such as ‘Blue Dia’ and ‘Red Dia’ will be provided. NCSoft, for ‘Lineage M’ and ‘Lineage W,’ lowered the price of the existing 120-diamond product from 3,900 KRW to 3,300 KRW, while slightly raising prices for products like the 400-diamond pack to offset the price fluctuations.

Ultimately, the damage caused by Apple’s in-app purchase fee increase is being passed on to consumers. Some gamers have pointed out, “Although companies say they will maintain existing item prices as much as possible, selling items in larger quantities than before has increased the burden,” and “This problem arose because Apple raised in-app purchase prices, but game companies should not place all the burden on users.”

Game companies argue that they have no choice. An industry insider said, “While consumers’ burdens may increase, companies are also in a situation where they cannot avoid losses,” adding, “We hope people understand that this decision was made as a last resort to maintain existing item prices as much as possible.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.