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This is a green zone opportunity. Don’t confuse it with a free-for-all.
Seize the moment—but don’t mistake momentum for a free pass.
The Apple ruling opens doors on U.S. iOS, but one misstep in compliance or a weak player experience, and the gains vanish just as fast. Because we're moving so far so quickly in the direction of giving power back to the publishers, some think of doing something that's currently not allowed today.
Conor McLaughlin is VP of Revenue and Partnerships at Aghanim, a platform built to help game publishers maximize off-app monetization. He’s focused on turning regulatory wins into real revenue, without cutting corners or losing players.
Narrow green zone: "This is a green zone opportunity," McLaughlin says. "Don’t confuse it with a free-for-all."
It’s a major opening—but a narrow one. Developers who treat it like a loophole risk closing the door just as quickly as it opened.
The ruling allows publishers to link out to external checkout pages without Apple taking a cut—but only on iOS, only in the U.S., and only through direct links.
The rest of the ecosystem remains unchanged, and the consequences of overstepping are still very real.
"Make sure that you understand all of the rules in terms of really how to maintain compliance," advises McLaughlin.
"Publishers need to do their research to incorporate strategies that not only maximize their take rate, but that also ensure that they're remaining within the borders of what's acceptable."
Gamers first: The Apple ruling may make it easier to link out, but that doesn’t mean players will follow.
"In the history of gaming, there’s never been a situation where you ask a player for their favorite feature, and they say the store," says McLaughlin. "Make sure your destination is a place where the players want to come. It's the players who are buying."
A static webshop won’t cut it. To keep players engaged—and spending—developers need to extend the game experience, not interrupt it. "How do you create an intrinsic game extension platform that reminds players of why they downloaded your game?" he asks. "That should be the focus, and that’s where webshops fail."
Because we're moving so far so quickly in the direction of giving power back to the publishers, some think to do something that's currently not allowed today. But that’s not what was ruled upon.
Beyond the borders: "This is a big moment," says McLaughlin. "iOS U.S. is a huge market, arguably the biggest."
But for global publishers, the old rules still apply outside the U.S.—and the risks of non-compliance remain.
McLaughlin cautions against overstepping.
"Because we're moving so far so quickly in the direction of giving power back to the publishers, some think to do something that's currently not allowed today," he says. "But that’s not what was ruled upon."
What was ruled upon is narrow and specific: developers can now link out from within the game to external checkout pages—without the Apple tax—in the U.S., on iOS. Everywhere else, the same walls are still up.
Eyes forward: This ruling is a win, but it’s not the final word. Legal challenges are already in motion, and the rules could change just as fast as the opportunity appeared.
In other words: don’t get comfortable. Build strategies that work today, but be ready to pivot tomorrow.
"If there's some sort of thing that happens in a year that for some reason moves us in a different direction," says McLaughlin, "then wake up that day and respond to it that day."
