Apple and Tencent dance delicately in China over WeChat mini-games
Tencent Chief Strategy Officer James Mitchell on Thursday confirmed that the company is in discussions with Apple about sharing revenue mini-games that are played directly on Tencent’s super-app WeChat. Many titles can be played without users having to download them from Apple’s App Store. These negotiations will be a delicate dance.
These apps-within-an-app have taken off since Tencent introduced them six years ago: over half a billion WeChat users play mini-games at least once a month, the company revealed, opens new tab at a developer conference in July, and advertising revenue from mini-games now account for 15% of WeChat’s total.
The bigger windfall for the duo could be in-app transactions, or sales of digital goods and services purchased within mini-games. For normal apps, Apple would typically take a 30% cut. Mitchell confirmed that Tencent currently doesn’t monetise its mini-games on Apple’s operating system via in-app transactions, but also added that it would be in everyone’s interest if there was a way to do so “on terms that we think are economically sustainable and that are also fair.”
For Apple, the extra revenue would be welcome… Tencent would benefit too and can drive a hard bargain, not least because the Cupertino giant is also under scrutiny in Europe and elsewhere on its app store practices. Apple is on a delicate non-virtual battleground.
MacDailyNews Take: An Apple – Tencent tie up would be a boon for both companies.
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