Patreon, Apple & PMG

Hey everyone,

Patreon are making some changes to how the platform operates on iOS devices going forward and I wanted to quickly explain what that means for you, as well as a couple of knock-on effects it’ll now have for People Make Games as well. 

And then finally, I want to end the post with a little bit about Big Tech in 2024, so that’ll be fun!

What’s happening?

You probably know that for most apps downloaded via the App Store, whenever a transaction takes place, Apple charges an additional 30% fee on top

This is why, for example, I can sign up to YouTube Premium on my PC right now for £12.99 per month, but if I try to sign up to the EXACT SAME SERVICE on my iPhone, it’ll cost £16.99 per month instead.

This is outrageously crap.

Anyway, up until this point, Patreon has been able to avoid this charge and Apple had allowed the platform to use its own payment infrastructure and therefore, not pay this 30% commission.

From November of this year, that will no longer be the case.

What does this mean for you?

If you don’t have an iOS device, or at least don’t use an iOS device to sign up to support Patreon creators, it’ll make no difference whatsoever.

Also, if you originally signed up via an iOS app, but you’re already an existing patron, you also won’t be charged anything extra. Nor will we!

However... if you sign up to become a patron via an iOS app from November 2024, a 30% fee will need to be paid to Apple. Now who covers that fee is up to each individual Patreon creator, as we can select for that to happen on our end, or for it to be added to the patron’s subscription.

In the case of PMG, we’ll be doing the latter, as that 30% difference would likely make our art print tier unsustainable, for a start.

However, what it should actually mean is this….

Never sign up to support Patreon creators via the iOS App. Do it literally anywhere else instead!!

You can still use the iOS app for its other features, but just don’t sign up there. Don't do it. Don't.

Also, this is a good rule to follow whenever you’re interacting with any kind of subscription service via an app on your phone. Always check if the price is different on a desktop machine, or even in your mobile browser instead.

What does this mean for People Make Games?

We’ll probably want to remind people to avoid signing up via iOS going forwards, which is aggravating, but there we are.

However, there are a couple of other things that are going to happen as a result.

You may have noticed that PMG’s Patreon was set up to only charge patrons at the start of the month, rather than charging you from the day you sign up and then repeating the payment on that same date each month, which is what most Patreon creators do these days.

We’ve liked this particular setup because it's meant that folks could sign up halfway through a month and then, if they change their mind, cancel the subscription before they’re actually charged.

Unfortunately, Apple has told Patreon that it’ll no longer support this kind of subscription model. In fact, unless all Patreon creators switch over to a setup in which patrons are charged on the date they sign up, they’ll pull the Patreon app from the App Store.

And so, everybody, People Make Games included, is being transferred to that subscription model going forwards. This will apply to all Patreon subscriptions, not just those that happen via an iOS app. Thanks Apple!

Again, if you’re an existing patron, nothing will change. You’ll continue to be charged at the start of the month instead.

One small benefit to us being forced to make this change, I suppose, is that we’ll now be able to activate the annual subscription feature on Patreon, which means patrons can sign up to an entire year of support at a discounted rate. We’ve not been able to activate this until now, while keeping the first of the month subscription model in place, so if that’s of any interest to you… you should now have access to that offer.

Technofeudalism

Okay, if you can’t tell by the tone of this post, I think Apple’s power in this dynamic is absolutely disgusting.

The idea that a 30% fee can be demanded because somebody happened to sign up to support PMG via an app on one of its devices is a total joke. What service is actually being provided here? Apple might argue that it’s valuable for its users to have a consistent experience when making payments on its hardware and that signing up to a gym membership or a Patreon subscription should feel exactly the same, with no need to input new payment details or worry about payment safety. Okay, sure, that may have a very small amount of merit to it. But 30%? THIRTY PERCENT?!

By comparison, People Make Games currently pays a 5% fee to Patreon from the income we receive here on this platform. There’s other bits on top of this that we need to cover as well, like payment processing fees and currency conversion, but Patreon essentially receives a flat 5% from us.

Comparing those two numbers is wild. They’re world’s apart.

Now this isn’t specifically a Patreon problem. Most companies that allow payments to happen via their iOS apps have been dealing with this for well over a decade. It’s the cost of doing business in these digital ecosystems in which we all live.

I should say, I’m directing my frustration at Apple here because this change has just been announced for Patreon specifically and we’re going to be affected by it. But don’t get me wrong, Android also charges a 30% fee for most of its apps too, but for now at least, that’s not the case for the Patreon app on Android. Perhaps that will change, we’ll have to see.

But the larger point is that these fees are absolutely everywhere! They exist on all the big digital platforms that we engage with. Steam is charging between 20 and 30% for games sold on its marketplace, Amazon usually charges around 15% for products sold through its platform, Uber takes a “service fee” of 20% from all its rides, although drivers claim the real cut is significantly higher when all their other mandatory expenses have been applied.

This concept is something that Greek economist Yanis Varoufakis describes as “Technofeudalism”. He argues that capitalism has quietly been replaced by a new era in which just a handful of Big Tech companies are able to collect huge sums from many of the transactions taking place in our daily lives, because their algorithm-driven, digital fiefdoms are so large and so all-encompassing that we have no choice but to interact with them. These companies may not actually create the end products being sold, but they’re still able to extract a huge portion of the profits, because they own the platforms where these transactions have to take place. They are, he argues, the modern day equivalent of feudal lords, but on a globe-spanning scale.

I don’t quite know how I feel about Patreon having bowed to the pressure of Apple in this case. There’s an argument to be made that having an iOS app just isn’t worth these outrageous fees and additional compromises. But it all speaks to the immense pressure that Apple is able to exert over the vast majority of companies. A small handful of Big Tech names have grown so large and so powerful that they’re able to make these kinds of demands without flinching because, where else are you going to go? If you’re not on their platforms, do you even exist?

Varoufakis’ book on this subject is really thought-provoking and I’d highly recommend it. Although perhaps proving its own point a little too well, the book is also available to purchase from Amazon.com, where Jeff Bezos will happily take his 15.3% fee for each copy sold, plus an additional “closing fee” of £0.50.

TEAR IT ALL DOWN.

-Chris