When 0% first $1m? How much of a hit are they taking from 15%?
They already have 0% for the first $0, don't be greedy. /s
Well there was a $15 sign up fee last I checked (although last I checked was close to 10 years ago).
Google Play service fee reduced to 15% for the first $1M/year
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Re: Google Play service fee reduced to 15% for the first $1M/year
#22I'm glad Google didn't choose the unnecessarily convoluted and worse solution Apple did that only adds more bureaucracy.
“ The App Store's standard commission rate of 30 percent remains in place for apps selling digital goods and services and making more than $1 million in proceeds, defined as a developer's post-commission earnings” [1] What is convoluted and worse? I am not a mobile Dev at this time, just going by what I see online. Edit: [1] https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2020/11/apple-announces-app-s...
It is not automatic, you need to enrol into the programme.
It only work for first year, subsequent year revert back to 30% if your previous year exceed $1M. ( the 1,000,000.01 problem )
Google also has a much more flexible definition of Services, Teaching to a group of Students via Video Call is not considered as Digital Services as on Apple App Store, and hence requires 30% of commission when signing up. ( And since been exempt after bad PRs )
Re: Google Play service fee reduced to 15% for the first $1M/year
#23Shouldn't this be inverted? Small devs with unknown apps have more to gain from play store's distribution, and won't mind paying 30% of a smaller revenue in exchange for all the help. Bigger apps like Netflix are already doing their own advertising and marketing and have close to zero to gain from play store. And they will be making a large amount of revenue. According to this they will have to pay 30% of a larger am…
Valve [Steam] does this "inverted" model, as of ~ December 2018... It wasn't overly well-received on the PR front -- though I do suspect that it earned them a decent bit of AAA title/publisher credit, heh. Realistically, that's probably where much of the money is at; if anything, props to them for getting away with it.
They had to do this because instead of regulatory pressure, they were feeling the opposite: Competitive options in the PC market. With Steam's high cut, any publisher large enough to make their own launcher should would be incredibly stupid not to do so, which is why Activision, EA, Ubisoft, Bethesda, Epic, etc. all have their own launchers now. And some of them have, or could, start selling third party titles as well.
Valve is presumably hoping giving these large publishers a deal will cause them to reevaluate the effort in developing and maintaining their own storefronts.
...In otherwords, it's also an anticompetitive play, it's just the one that makes sense in Valve's particular monopoly space.
Re: Google Play service fee reduced to 15% for the first $1M/year
#24Further evidence that developer pressure and legal pressure on smartphone platforms work, that they aren't a waste of time.
Prolonged campaigns for better terms can make a tangible difference, and we should be encouraged by this result to advocate for even better terms. It turns out that when they have real pressure, it is possible for Google and Apple to come up with better terms.
Keep in mind that the reason Google is being sued for antitrust isn't because it was taking 30% -- it's because it forced manufactures not to install or bundle any 3rd party stores by threatening to remove access to the Play store if any competing storefronts were enabled by default on consumer devices. So this doesn't change the original complaint, but it's still a very big win for smaller developers.
Re: Google Play service fee reduced to 15% for the first $1M/year
#25Honestly those making tens of millions deserve this even more from an economical perspective. There is cost of running the store but once you gross, say $100M, paying $30M to Google is kinda harsh.
Re: Google Play service fee reduced to 15% for the first $1M/year
#26Wow, it sure is a coincidence that its being cut to basically the same rate (though a different structuring) as Apple. First google independently came up with the 30% rate just like Apple did, and then they independently came up with 15% for the first $1M like Apple did.
Re: Google Play service fee reduced to 15% for the first $1M/year
#27Worth remembering that as good as it is that Google is reducing it's abusive taxation on third party developers, the primary reason they're doing this is to try to quiet the majority of developers asking for stronger government regulations against this taxation without actually reducing their profit much, since the large companies which bring in the majority of revenue still have to pay full price. Basically, they're…
Is your feeling on what Google's hopes speculation, or do you have some inside information?
I imagine that it's speculation but it's reasonable speculation, since maximizing profits is pretty much the sole goal of a publicly traded corporation at the end of the day.
Re: Google Play service fee reduced to 15% for the first $1M/year
#28Wow, it sure is a coincidence that its being cut to basically the same rate (though a different structuring) as Apple. First google independently came up with the 30% rate just like Apple did, and then they independently came up with 15% for the first $1M like Apple did.
I get the sarcasm but really its a duopoly game like a Stackleberg. The best move is to match and not try to undercut.
Re: Google Play service fee reduced to 15% for the first $1M/year
#29Worth remembering that as good as it is that Google is reducing it's abusive taxation on third party developers, the primary reason they're doing this is to try to quiet the majority of developers asking for stronger government regulations against this taxation without actually reducing their profit much, since the large companies which bring in the majority of revenue still have to pay full price. Basically, they're…
You know that Android is open source and you can just sideload apps, install a 3rd party app store or replace entire OS with your own ROM right? What, your app/game is not valuable enough to the user to bother with unless it's a single click install without having to enter credit card? Well...
Basically - Situation is not at all the same as with iOS - There is too much emphasis on friction-less low value installs and less on highly valuable things that users are willing to invest time and money on. Those apps would not survive without vendor-included single click app stores anyway.
Re: Google Play service fee reduced to 15% for the first $1M/year
#30Wow, it sure is a coincidence that its being cut to basically the same rate (though a different structuring) as Apple. First google independently came up with the 30% rate just like Apple did, and then they independently came up with 15% for the first $1M like Apple did.
It is amazing how quickly "industry standard" prices can change after just one company deviates from them.
It's almost like the standard wasn't ever set in stone or based on careful cost-benefit analysis to begin with.