There is no doubt that Meta, formerly known as Facebook, has been one of the companies that has criticized the 30% commission the most that Apple pocketed for each transaction that was made in the App Store. There is nothing wrong with criticizing an attitude that does not seem appropriate to you, but the problem comes when you not only do not lead by example, but also do something worse than what you had been criticizing.
That is precisely what Meta has done. The company run by Mark Zuckerberg has confirmed that wants to charge a commission of 47.50% of all transactions that take place in your Metaverse. This means that if a developer sells, for example, a set of specific designs for your virtual character with a price of 10 euros, Meta will take 4.75 euros, almost half of its value. It goes without saying that it is an absurdly high figure, although Meta has justified itself by saying that it is a competitive “bite”, somewhat confusing since the standard is precisely at that 30% that they criticized so much.
The criticisms have not been long in coming, and Apple has been one of the first to give Meta a blow saying:
“Meta has repeatedly criticized Apple for charging developers a 30% commission for in-app purchases on the App Store, and has used small businesses and creators as scapegoats throughout. Now, Meta looks to charge those same creators significantly more than any other platform.. The announcement exposes the hypocrisy of Meta. This shows that while they are looking to use Apple’s platform for free, they happily want to charge creators and small businesses that use theirs.”
I think Apple has explained it perfectly, since what Meta is doing is a clear example of “do what I say, not what I do”. The commission that Meta will pocket will be divided into 30% from the Meta Quest Store and 17.5% from Horizon Worlds. At the moment we do not have an answer from the company that Mark Zuckerberg directs, but it is clear that they conceive the Metaverse as an important source of income, and that they are willing to make the most of the opportunity it represents.
In any case, it is curious that Meta prefers to charge such a high commission to maximize income from the startinstead of opting for a lower fee to fuel the advancement of the Metaverse.
