Google announced today that it will open the Play Store for foreign payments in the US, UK and Europe starting June 30.
a Write on the Android Developers BlogGoogle details changes to Play Store payment rules on Android, changes made after years of legal battle with Epic Games (mostly) ended earlier this year.
Today’s announcement sets the start date for lower fees and the ability for Android developers to use external billing alongside Play Store distribution – June 30. That’s when updates roll out for major markets, including the US, the UK and the European Economic Area.
The new policy sees developers pay a 10% fee on the first 1,000,000 of their annual earnings regardless of the billing method, Google Play Billing, an alternative internal system or external links for out-of-app billing. That’s well below the standard 30% discount when the whole controversy first started.
After the first $1,000,000, Google’s fees increase for transactions other than auto-renewing subscriptions, with “new installs” seeing a smaller decrease than “existing installs,” the latter referring to users who installed the app before this policy change. A 5% fee is also charged for using Google Play Billing if developers choose to use it.
Google explains:
Service fees start at 10% of your first $1 million (USD) in annual revenue, whether you use Google Play’s billing system, alternative billing, or external web links. This 10% service fee also applies to all auto-renewing subscriptions…
Service charges for other transactions will be determined by whether the transaction user’s setup is new or existing relative to the regional release date:
- New installations: An action by a user who first installed or first updated an app from Google Play on or after the launch date of the new payment structure in their regions.
- Available installations: An action by a user who first installed an app from Google Play or whose first update occurred before the date the new payment structure went live on the market.
Transactions using Google Play’s billing system are subject to a surcharge. In the United States, Great Britain and the European Economic Area, the settlement fee is set at 5%. We will announce billing fee details for other markets soon. Billing fees do not apply to transactions made through alternative billing or external web links.
Fees are also reduced for Google-compatible apps “Level Up” or “Application Practice” supports apps and Google-recommended features that encourage developers to better support alternative Android form factors with high quality and low crash rates. These programs will begin at the end of September.
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