DMM Games, a major digital distribution platform and publisher of PC and mobile games run by EXNOA, is planning to launch its own app store for iOS. This was announced during a media briefing attended by Famitsu.
Currently, DMM Games counts over 40 million users, and is home to popular titles like Kantai Collection and Touken Ranbu Online. Notably, it was also the domestic publisher of Too Kyo Games and Neilo’s full-priced game Shuten Order. As it expands its platform and publishing business, DMM Games has announced that it plans to release a proprietary store app for iOS devices sometime in June or beyond.
This comes in response to changes Apple has made to its guidelines thanks to Japan’s new “Mobile Software Competition Act” (MSCA). The new law was enacted in 2024 and came into full effect starting December 18, 2025, aiming to regulate fair competition in the market and weaken the monopoly of major tech firms like Apple and Google. Among other changes, the law requires companies to open their OSs to third-party app stores, making initiatives like DMM Games’s possible (though Apple was quick to introduce some tricky countermeasures).
Since Apple and Google’s app stores are somewhat notorious among mobile game developers for charging sky high handling fees (up to 30% commission), DMM Games is likely hoping to circumvent this problem by launching its own store. Additionally, this will allow them to offer apps that are not typically available on Apple’s App Store. As Famitsu reports, the company stated that it “may offer a variety of services, including R-rated versions of games.”
DMM Games has certainly had its share of troubles with app stores when it comes to things like characters in revealing costumes (not nudity or sexual content). Last year, they were suddenly told by Apple that they would have to replace almost all character art and animations in their live-service RPG Twinkle Star Knights, despite the game being approved and running without issues for years prior. The game was blocked from updating due to this issue, which surely impacted the publisher. Perhaps with their own app, the risk of such complications will be lower. As for fully adult rated games, this seems to be under consideration for the time being.
