Following Apple’s announcement that it would lower App Store costs for developers, Google has stated that it will lower Play Store prices for developers as well. Because Google has decreased the fees by 15 percent, the subscriptions app will no longer be required to pay a 30 percent cut to the firm.
It should be noted that the adjustments will not be implemented immediately; instead, the new Play Store costs will be implemented in January 2021. Google has now stated that ebooks and on-demand music streaming services will be eligible for a 10 percent fee, in addition to the other services.
In a blog post announcing the increased Play Store pricing, Google stated, “To better accommodate the specific needs of developers who offer subscriptions, starting on January 1, 2022, we’re reducing the service cost for all subscriptions on Google Play from 30 percent to 15 percent, effective immediately.” This means that for developers that offer subscriptions, the first-year membership rates will be reduced by half. “We’ve already received great feedback on this modification from our developer partners,” says the team.
Apps that provide ebooks and music streaming services will also benefit from special concessions from Google. e-books and on-demand music streaming services, whose content prices account for the majority of sales, will now be eligible for a service fee as low as 10%, according to the search engine giant. The new rates take into account the economics of the media content verticals as well as the needs of developers and the communities of artists, musicians, and authors they represent. Google Play will function more efficiently as a result of the new rates.
It was earlier this year that Google introduced the Play Media Experience initiative in an effort to encourage video, audio, and book producers alike to contribute to the growth of the Android platform by creating cross-device experiences. The developers were only required to pay a service fee of as little as 15 percent for the work they completed.
Google encourages developers to “study program guidelines and express interest today, and we’ll follow up with more information if they are eligible” if they are unsure whether apps are eligible for the reduced service price.
Google has decided to comply with South Korea’s most recent decision, which required the search engine to accept third-party payments in its Google Play Store, as reported by Reuters. Due to the fact that both Apple and Google need in-app purchases to be made through their respective channels, the rule constituted a major setback for both firms.
“The same way that it takes money for developers to build an app, it costs money for us to construct and maintain an operating system and app store.” As a result of this regulation, we’ll be thinking about how to comply while still running under an operating system and app store that are of high quality, and we’ll offer more information in the coming weeks,” a Google representative had previously told The Verge.
