Mihoyo: Apple may have a ‘problem’ with Genshin Impact maker miHoYo

The Chinese game developer behind the popular mobile title, Genshin Impact, miHoYo has a close relationship with Apple. The gaming giant has been awarded by the iPhone maker multiple times and Apple CEO Tim Cook has even paid a personal visit to the company. Moreover, two of the company’s games were also featured during the iPhone 15 launch. However, the gaming company may be facing some issues with the Cupertino-based tech giant.
How miHoYo tried to evade Apple’s 30% cut
According to a report by China Project (spotted by 9to5Mac), Apple has caught miHoYo trying to evade the 30% cut on in-app purchases in two instances.In August, the Chinese game developer tried to bypass Apple’s rules via its official community forum app, the report notes.
In this app, miHoYo gave the fans of its flagship games like — Genshin Impact and its latest release, Honkai: Star Rail — exclusive access to promotions and all things related to their favourite titles. The report notes that the game maker kept this move low-key and discreet.

Instead of launching and advertising the new payment channel publicly, miHoYo reportedly instructed customer service staff to direct users to make in-game purchases via its website. On the website, the company allowed players to buy digital goods directly from miHoYo, without Apple taking a cut in sales. In reply, the iPhone maker removed this forum app from the App Store.
Later on, miHoYo unveiled again tried to Apple’s fees by introducing a new mini-program in Alipay. Just like the previous program, the new payment method went live without many promotions. However, the company briefly promoted this payment method and shared a few posts about it on the Chinese social media platform Weibo. In September, Apple again disabled the feature for iPhone users.
As per the report, gaming research company Niko Partners has predicted that other developers may also try new ways to avoid Apple’s 30% cut on in-app purchases in the coming days.