What Yesterday’s Epic Ruling Means for App Developers, and What You Should Do About It

Over the past year, D2C opportunities have slowly opened up for app developers as court rulings and new laws in the US and globally have forced Apple and Google to allow apps to process payments directly with consumers outside of the app ecosystem. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers’ epic ruling yesterday (pun intended!) has put this into fast-forward.

The federal judge ruled that Apple is still not fully complying with the anti-steering injunction issued in the original Epic v. Apple case. Their existing practice of charging a commission of up to 27% on external payments initiated from in-app links (one of the key sticking points for D2C adoption) Judge Rogers has ruled, is in violation of the initial ruling, and undermines the intent of that ruling: giving developers real choice and pricing freedom.

The big hurdle of how to get players to your D2C store is being broken down.

At Tebex, we see this as a defining moment. The core issue isn't just about steering or commissions — it's about ownership. For years, platforms have restricted how you can interact with your own players. That’s changing.

What this means for developers today

• 🧭 You can now more confidently guide users to your own store, with less fear of platform retaliation or policy uncertainty.
• 💸 You can avoid 30% platform fees, by using external payments

For the first time, app developers can own the full relationship with their players and users, letting them know the route to the best deals, without relying on hidden messaging or players discovering your D2C store by chance.

The remaining challenges:

• 🧰 Building a D2C solution from scratch takes time. Unless you are already set up, launching an online store for your game, setting up global payments etc. takes time
• 🧾 You are responsible for Taxes. One of the benefits of a platform such as the App Store is that they handle the sales taxes - if you sell directly to customers around the world, you might be liable for Sales Tax, VAT, GST etc. in various jurisdictions globally.
• 📩 More payments, more support. Customers will have questions about their billing - taxes, refunds and more. This can be a significant load for many teams who have not had to deal with it in the past.

This is Where a Merchant of Record Comes In

Instead of navigating legal, financial, and regulatory challenges alone, a Merchant of Record such as Tebex takes care of most of these challenges for you:

• Global tax compliance (including VAT, sales tax, and digital goods regulations)
• Fraud prevention and chargeback handling
• Global payment processing: 130+ payment methods supported globally in multiple currencies covering cards, wallets, A2A, BNPL and more
• First-level support covering refund requests, billing enquiries and disputes.

Better yet, a platform such as Tebex comes with a D2C store ready to go - within hours, you can launch a fully branded store and start taking payments directly from your players, all while retaining full ownership of your audience and pricing strategy. If you want to move fast to take advantage of this new ruling, we can help.

This is more than a legal shift — it’s a strategic one. Moving fast on new D2C opportunities will allow studios and developers to own their monetization, unlock new revenue, and build deeper player relationships - and Tebex is here to help you do just that.

👉 Get started with Tebex today — or speak with our team about how to migrate your current payment setup.