two & a half gamers 🚨 EMERGENCY EPISODE🚨 Game over, Apple? What you need to know & do NOW!
On April 30th, 2025, a U.S. court ruled that Apple’s anti-steering policies are anti-competitive and unenforceable.
That single sentence could redefine the mobile app economy.
For the first time ever, developers can now directly link to their own web stores from inside their iOS apps, promoting them, pricing them competitively, and funneling players off-platform without fear of being banned.
We unpacked everything on a special emergency episode with Chip Thurston, Head of Gaming at FastSpring (and former Scopely product leader)
🧠 What You’ll Learn:
How the Epic v. Apple court ruling changes the rules immediately
What Apple is now legally required to allow inside your app
Why this ruling could unlock 50%+ of iOS revenue via web
What tools, compliance, and merchant of record solutions do you need to get started
Lessons from studios already monetizing 40–50% via web
Why Apple’s retaliation is likely — and how to prepare
📈 Whether you're a midcore dev, casual publisher, or indie studio, this is your moment to take back control of your margin, your funnel, and your future.
According to Chip:
- Before the ruling, best-in-class midcore games saw 40–50% of revenue via web after years of investment
- Casual games managed 20–25% at best
- Now, with direct promotion allowed, any game could hit 50% web revenue with proper messaging and value placement
Let that sink in.
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This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let’s not forget this is a 4 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.
Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lancaric
Special Guest: Chip Thurston
https://www.linkedin.com/in/thurstonchip/
FastSpring: https://fastspring.gg/
Our Yacht party: https://go.fastspring.com/D2Sea_Laser_Yacht_Party_dm_rg.html
Youtube: https://youtu.be/6jk-mDnia3Y
Join our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-2um8eguhf-c~H9idcxM271mnPzdWbipg
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to the Podcast and Guest
04:22 Apple's Court Ruling and Its Significance
08:44 Impact of Anti-Steering Policies
12:27 Apple's Response and Future Implications
16:22 Choosing a Merchant of Record
19:18 Risk Management and Market Expectations
21:03 Revenue Shifts in Gaming
23:31 Promoting Web Stores Effectively
26:20 Choosing the Right Merchant of Record
28:32 FastSpring's Unique Value Proposition
31:08 Navigating Apple's Response
33:40 Future of Web Stores in Gaming
38:12 Beneficiaries of Increased Profitability
40:02 Looking Ahead: Regulatory Changes
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Matej Lancaric
User Acquisition & Creatives Consultant
https://lancaric.me
Felix Braberg
Ad monetization consultant
https://www.felixbraberg.com
Jakub Remiar
Game design consultant
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiar
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