Google will cut Play Store fees for the majority of Android developers
Companies will pay 15 percent on the first $1 million they make in annual revenue.
Starting on July 1st, Google will lower its Play Store commission fee to 15 percent on the first $1 million developers earn from its marketplace every year, the company announced on Tuesday (via 9to5Google). Google claims the change will reduce the fees it takes from 99 percent of Android developers by 50 percent. “These are funds that can help developers scale up at a critical phase of their growth by hiring more engineers, adding to their marketing staff, increasing server capacity, and more,” Google said. After a developer crosses the $1 million mark, the company will then take its standard 30 percent cut.
Apple announced a similar fee reduction toward the end of last year. However, in the case of the Play Store, developers don’t need to apply to a program to take advantage of Google’s newfound generosity. What’s more, the company is making the fee reduction on the first million available to all developers, even those that easily make more than that in a single year. Notably, the change comes ahead of a policy Google will implement on September 30th that will require all developers to process their payments through the Play Store’s billing system.
Independent developers have long criticized both Apple and Google for taking too big of a cut off their work. Those criticisms turned into open protest last year when Epic Games intentionally broke both Apple’s and Google’s rules on in-app purchases. That action has led to an escalating legal feud between Epic and the two tech giants, with no end in sight.
