Mobile applications and the micropayments or subscriptions that are usually associated with them, are a source of recurring income for both the applications and the App Store or the Play Store. However, this same reason has been the source of various problems, since stores want to maintain the handling of all transactions within their own payment systems, while developers seek to add links or other options with which to redirect consumers to their websites; in order to be able to manage collections and payments directly, without the commissions or intervention of the stores.
In fact, at the end of 2020, the App Store and the Play Store removed Fornite from their catalogues, one of the most downloaded games in recent years, in response to the decision of its developer, Epic Games, to manage transactions directly. . Around this, Google had also announced a new policy on its payment system for the store, which had been delayed until now.
Google begins to implement its new policy on the payment system in its Play Store
According to Google, it will force application developers to use the company’s payment system for transactions within the app. In other words, any type of subscription, micropayment or purchase within the app must be made through the Play Store payment system.
Consequently, the applications may not present any type of link or redirection option, with which consumers are sent to another site or payment platform to purchase a subscription. This new policy has entered into force since this April 1; and will offer a two-month grace period for developers to adapt their applications to these new terms.
In other words, by June 1, all applications that have not adhered to the new policy will be removed from the store. Likewise, the implementation of these transactions comes with a fee that developers must pay to the Play Store for the provision of the service. It will be between 15% and 30% of the amount of the transaction, depending on the category in which the application is found.. This could mean an increase in subscription costs or purchases of applications, although we will have to wait to see what measures developers take.
A new policy not suitable for everyone
On the other hand, for developers of India, the deadline has been extended until October this year, although this may be subject to future changes, as the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has determined that these conditions are unfair to developers. This could spell trouble for the tech giant to implement these policies in the Asian country.
Likewise, South Korea In 2021, a law was approved that forces Google and Apple to accept that developers include payment alternatives in their applications, so the application of its new regulation could not be carried out. However, Google has established that it will accept third-party payment methods and will take a fee of 11% of the transactions made through them.
Until now these are the only countries that have presented a negative response to this new implementation of the technological giant. But it is possible that other regulators around the world will come up with new measures to challenge this policy, which presents unfair treatment for developers and to the clear benefit of Google.
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