Massive corporations can sometimes make a special deal with Apple.
Small companies, not so much.
Therefore it makes sense for small companies to assume that they will have to follow Apple's rules, whether or not they agree with them.
If a platform developer doesn’t charge their creators a commission, Apple doesn’t get a cut either – great. But should the developer decide to keep even 1% to run their own business, Apple asks for almost a third of the entire transaction – how does that make any sense?
If I ask you to take your shoes off before coming inside my house, and you tromp on in with your shoes still on and naively expect I'll just be cool with that, don't be surprised if I just kick you out of my house instead. And then don't expect anyone to care when you go protest in the public square about the injustice of me not letting you violate a rule I hold everyone (including myself) to.
(At any rate, didn't Apple actually reduce fees to 15% for smaller companies last year? Isn't that still in effect?)
And even at 15%, Fanhouse would still need to either raise their prices, reduce creator payouts, or run at a loss. Plus, the rules shouldn’t be such that they disincentivize companies from growing.
Frustrating, indeed.