While the court still hasn’t signed off on the major settlement that resolves Epic’s antitrust lawsuit against Google for monopolizing Android’s App Store with Google Play, the tech giant says it will start making changes to the way it handles billing for developers around the world. As announced in March, the flat 30 percent billing fee is being replaced by a “lower, decoupled fee” that partially separates billing and the App Store.
How much of a cut Google will now take from a transaction depends on whether it is for a user whose first install occurred before or after the new structure, how much the developer has earned, and whether the developer uses Google Play’s billing system with an additional 5 percent fee rather than an alternative system or linking to its own website.
For apps earning more than one million dollars annually, it will be 20 percent for new in-app purchases and 10 percent for subscriptions. However, Google has also announced the Games Level Up and Apps Experience programs for “Exceptional” and “Premium” experiences that meet its guidelines by working on different platforms (such as tablets, smart TVs, or Android Auto), meet benchmarks for memory usage and crash rates, and support recommended features (such as cloud saves or phishing-resistant sign-in) to qualify for the reduced rate on both new and existing installs.
Other program changes will go into effect in some regions at the end of the year, before being implemented in the rest of the world after September 30, 2027.
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