Apple confirms it’s increasing App Store prices in some regions next month
Apple has announced that it plans to raise prices on the App Store in some regions next month, including in-app purchases.
Announced via a developer blog post, the new prices will come into effect in Chile, Egypt, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Poland, South Korea, Sweden, Vietnam, and all territories that use the Euro currency.
“In Vietnam, these increases also reflect new regulations for Apple to collect and remit applicable taxes, being value-added tax (VAT) and corporate income tax (CIT) at 5% rates respectively,” according to the blog.
Interestingly, auto-renewable subscriptions won’t be included in the price increases, likely due to the existing deals Apple has with certain third-party subscription services that use Apple’s platform as a payment method. This also means that Apple TV won’t be affected as part of the increase.
Apple shared a price chart with developers explaining the new tiers of in-game purchases that developers can expect to see in their games going forward. In European territories which use the Euro (except Montenegro), the lowest standard in-app purchase that can be set has increased from € 0.99 to € 1.19.
The UK and the US won’t currently be affected by the price changes. Apple didn’t provide a reason for the increase in price, but it’s reflective of an industry that is seeing wide-scale price adjustments due to global economic factors.
Sony recently increased the price of the PlayStation 5 by up to 12.5% in numerous countries.
However, not all gaming firms are being drawn to increase prices. Microsoft’s head of gaming has said recently that the company currently has no plans to increase Xbox console prices.
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