Google cuts Play Store fee to 15 pc globally including India

Google said it will levy a 15 per cent rate on in-app purchases to all developers for annual sales up to $1 million and take a 30 per cent commission from revenues over the $1 million mark.

For the developers in India that do sell digital goods, but have not yet integrated with Play's billing system, they continue to have time till March 31, 2022 as announced previously.

"For the thousands of developers in India that are already using Play to sell digital goods, they can start receiving the benefit of this change as soon as it goes into effect in July," said Sameer Samat, Vice President, Android and Google Play.

"With this change, 99 per cent of developers globally that sell digital goods and services with Play will see a 50 per cent reduction in fees," Samat added.

Google said that it has heard from partners making $2 million to even $10 million a year that their services are still on a path to self-sustaining orbit.

"This is why we are making this reduced fee on the first $1 million of total revenue earned each year available to every Play developer that uses the Play billing system, regardless of size," Samat noted.

Apple last year announced a new developer programme to reduce the charge by half for small businesses that earn up to $1 million in revenue from January 1, 2021, after facing flak for the App Store's 30 per cent standard commission for paid app revenue and in-app purchases.

Google said that once developers confirm some basic information to help the company understand any associated accounts they have and ensure it applies the 15 per cent rate properly, "this discount will automatically renew each year".

The service fee for Google Play is only applicable to developers who offer in-app sale of digital goods and services.

More than 97 per cent of apps globally do not sell digital goods, and therefore do not pay any service fee, the company said.