I really can't figure out where all the App Store money are going.

I'm selling Lunar on Paddle and the average transaction there is $19.21 (from the $23 baseline price). So they're taking on average 16.47% and that's including VAT, sales tax, credit card royalties and service fee.

On the App Store, even with the Small Business program where the tax is only 15%, I'm losing about 25.63% from the sales each month (still including VAT, currency exchange losses, store fee etc.)

Oh and I also have to pay taxes for this income to my country's government. That's another 10% off the year's income + 15% mandatory health insurance and 15% pension fund.

> I really can't figure out where all the App Store money are going.

The money is going towards profits. Apple's App Store profit margin is ~80% and it increases every year[1]:

> Barnes calculated that the App Store had hefty profit margins, which increased to 78% in 2019, up from 75% in 2018, and generated $22 billion in commissions for Apple last year.

[1] https://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-profitable-is-apples-a...

It's the same "licensing" business model as video game consoles, with similar commissions to Nintendo's eShop, etc..

Unsurprisingly, the bulk of App Store revenue is from games.

I don't see Nintendo (or Apple) authorizing alternative game stores on their handhelds any time soon.

Even Nintendo allows you to buy Nintendo games at a store not owned by Nintendo. I'm not sure how the commissions break down but you can still buy digital Nintendo games at other stores like Amazon, Humble Bundle, Wal-mart etc. And of course physical options are still a thing and Nintendo doesn't see a dime if I buy game off some dude on Craigslist. I can't get anything off the Apple App Store without going through Apple.

Apple doesn't make most of their revenue from selling games. It's selling microtransactions in games. They are basically skimming off a few thousand digital casinos at this point.

What makes this even more egregious is that it isn't 30% of profits that Apple seeks as rent, but 30% of all revenue. A 15% to 30% rent on all revenue automatically makes many businesses completely infeasible, especially those with low margins. The end result is that market innovation and efficiency are suppressed so that Apple can turn an ~80% profit margin[1] via the App Store at the expense of new and small businesses.

[1] https://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-profitable-is-apples-a...