Google Play opens up billing options and lowers store fees from June 30

Google has reiterated its plans to lower store fees and offer more flexible payment options from June 30. Developers can also unlock further benefits if they join a revised ‘Level Up’ program from September 30.

These changes were previously announced back in March alongside the news that Google and Epic had agreed to end the various long-running disputes between the companies. But as we noted at the time, the decision to drop some store fees and add extra billing options is not the huge win for developers that the two companies claim it is.

In real terms, it appears most developers at scale will see their Google Play fee cut to 25% if they continue to use Google Play billing, though signing up to the Level Up program can reduce those fees by a further 5%. But developers must adopt various Google tech and meet various guidelines to join the Level Up program. The store fee drop for those using webshop or other alternative billing methods is also likely to end up being around 5% for most developers operating at scale.

Nonetheless, Google Play engineering VP Paul Feng has outlined the changes coming in a blog today as a refresher. In short, for developers in the US, EU and UK, the below store fees apply from June 30 onwards:

The above store fees will apply in Australia from September 30, Japan and Korea from December 31 and the rest of the world from September 30 2027.

The ‘New install’ fees are relevant to transactions from players whose first install or update occurred on or after the date the new fee structure launched in their region. The ‘Existing install’ fees apply for players who downloaded the game before the changes came in.

Google also confirmed what the tweaked payment flow could look like:

To qualify for a further 5% store fee discount, developers can apply to be part of Google’s Level Up program. To qualify, game-makers must implement Google’s Play Games Services v2 SDK, Google’s AI-powered Sidekick, rewards system, achievments and cloud save services.

Developers must also make their games playable on big screens by adding ‘Google Play Games on PC’ functionality, as well as meeting other stability, performance and graphics standards set by Google.

The lower Level Up program fees roll out from September 30 in Australia, EU, UK and US, then from December 31 in Japan and Korea and finally the rest of the world by September 30 2027.