Google has complied with the DMA, but we learned today that the group intends to charge developers who take advantage of the new European legislation to direct their users to download applications outside the Play Store.
It’s official, after specifying what would change in its services following the entry into force of the Digital Markets Act (DMA), Google confirms that it will apply fees to developers, even if they do not use the Play Store, just as Apple did with the App Store, by slightly lowering its commissions on the App Store but introducing new types of fees at the same time.
Google will charge developers… even if they no longer use the Play Store
We thus learn that two new types of fees will be implemented in the Google ecosystem:
- An initial acquisition fee of 10% for in-app purchases or 5% for two-year subscriptions (according to Google, this corresponds to the value provided by Play to facilitate initial user acquisition).
- An ongoing service fee of 17% for in-app purchases or 7% for subscriptions. These fees are this time supposed to cover ongoing Google Play services such as parental controls, security, fraud prevention and app updates.
Affected developers will be able to waive at least part of these fees after two years, but only if users agree to give up certain Play services.
“ Since users acquired the application through Play expecting to benefit from services such as parental controls, security scanning, fraud prevention and continuous updates of the application, the interruption of these services also requires user consent », Explains Google, which also provided the explanatory table below.
We discover how the new fees will apply in the case of an imaginary application nicknamed here “ Fantastic App », distributed outside the Play Store.
A decision that already raises eyebrows
As mentioned above, Google justifies the appearance of these new types of fees by the richness of the Android ecosystem and the quality of the overall “free” experience, provided to users as well as developers.
“ Play’s fees support our investment in Android and Google Play and reflect the value that Android and Play provide, including allowing us to distribute Android for free and provide the ever-expanding suite of tools and services that helps developers to build successful businesses, while keeping our platforms safe and secure for billions of users around the world », Explains Google.
An argument that is already raising eyebrows, especially at Epic Games. Tim Sweeney, boss of the group, known in particular for the Fortnite license, strongly criticized Google’s decision, even before the details of these new fees were made public.
“ Google has announced its plans to maliciously comply with the European DMA law… it appears that its illegal anti-steering policy will be replaced by a new Google tax on web transactions “, did he declare.
Source : Engadget
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