Why is a middleman required at all? Epic seems happy to process their own payments - they don't need a "platform" to do it for them.

Epic tried side loading on Android and not use Google Play. That ended up being a horrible financial disaster and a security nightmare. https://www.mcafee.com/blogs/mobile-security/fornite-android...

As I said, my point is just that it's not something I should be obligated to pay for.

But, if you're looking for counterexamples to show it can be done for less than a 15% cut, they're around. Almost every eBay category charges less than 15%, for example. And, as another user pointed out, Epic takes less than 15%. AliExpress charges 5-8% on average. Etsy is I think something like 6.5%.

Etsy charges 6.5% transaction fee + 3% payment processing fee + a flat $0.25 fee per transaction. That would end up being more than 15% for most Apple purchases of $1-$3.

eBay charges a final value fee of 12.9% and $.30 - $0.40 flat fee per order. And you pay a fee for international orders.