S. Korean game trade body accuses Apple of overcharging developers for commissions

SEOUL, Sept. 1 (Yonhap) -- A South Korean game industry association has filed a complaint with the antitrust regulator here against Apple Inc., accusing the U.S. tech giant of purportedly overcharging developers for in-app payment commissions, sources said Thursday.

The Korea Mobile Game Association (KMGA) filed the complaint with the Fair Trade Commission last month, claiming Apple collected an estimated 350 billion won (US$259 million) in excessive and undue commissions from local developers, the sources said.

The KMGA claimed that while a 30 percent commission from in-app payments was due to Apple from developers, the company actually ended up collecting a 33 percent cut based on calculations when applying a 10 percent value added tax (VAT).

The association said the overcharged fee estimate was based on VAT charge transactions on the App Store in South Korea from 2015 to 2020, which amounted to 11.6 trillion won.

Hwang Sung-ik, head of the KMGA, said the association has asked "Apple to correct its unfair commission calculation practices" but has not received an answer.

He also suggested Apple was discriminating against companies, claiming the tech giant was covering the VAT charge costs for some foreign developers, without naming the companies.

odissy@yna.co.kr
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