Google's "Painful" Reform: Open Third-Party Payments, Reduce Google Play Commission Rate to 20%

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, recently announced a systematic reform of the Google Play Store. It will reduce the standard service fee for in-app purchases (IAP) from the 30% that has been in use for nearly two decades to 20%, and cut the subscription service fee to 10%. Additionally, it will fully open up third - party payment systems and third - party app stores. This is a complete reconstruction of the business model of the Google Play app store since its establishment.

According to Google's official announcement, this rate reform is not a simple "one - size - fits - all" price cut. First, Google splits the previously bundled 30% fee into two parts: the "basic service fee" and the "payment processing fee". Regarding the basic service fee, the service fee for standard in - app purchase transactions is reduced from 30% to 20%. For developers participating in the newly launched "Apps Experience Program" or the upgraded "Games Level Up Program", the service fee for in - app purchase transactions generated by new app installation users can be further reduced to 15%, while the transactions of existing users will remain at 20%. The commission rate for subscription - based services is uniformly and significantly reduced to 10%.

In terms of the payment processing fee, if developers choose to continue using Google's official Google Play Billing payment system, they need to pay an additional 5% fee in the US, UK, and European Economic Area (EEA) markets. If developers use their own payment systems or guide users to external websites to complete payments, they do not need to pay this fee. This means that for developers who choose to build their own payment channels, their comprehensive cost can be reduced to a minimum of 15%, which is half of the previous 30%.

In addition to the rate adjustment, Google also announced two "open" policies. One is to completely lift the "Anti - steering" restriction, allowing developers to clearly inform users within the app that external payment options are cheaper and directly provide jump links. The other is to launch the "Registered App Stores" program, allowing third - party app stores that have passed Google's security review to be more conveniently installed and run on Android devices, greatly simplifying the process of sideloading apps for users.

These new regulations will be implemented globally in phases. The US, UK, and the European Economic Area will implement them first by June 30, 2026; Australia by September 30; South Korea and Japan by December 31; and the rest of the world is planned to fully implement them by September 30, 2027.

The direct trigger for Google's "self - sacrificing" reform is the long - standing legal confrontation with Epic Games. In 2020, Epic introduced a direct payment option that bypassed Google's payment system in "Fortnite", which led to the game being removed from the Google Play Store. Immediately afterwards, Epic filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google, accusing it of abusing the dominant position of the Android system in the app distribution and payment markets.

After nearly five years of tug - of - war, the two parties reached a comprehensive settlement under court supervision in November 2025. As part of the settlement agreement, Google promised to make the above - mentioned major adjustments to its business model. In February 2026, "Fortnite", which had been removed from the Google Play Store for nearly five years, returned to the store. Tim Sweeney, the CEO of Epic Games, responded that the new plan "is a better choice for all developers".

In recent years, the global review of the monopoly behavior of app stores has been continuously intensifying. The EU's "Digital Markets Act" (DMA) clearly requires the opening of third - party payments. The UK Competition Appeal Tribunal has determined that the 30% app store commission constitutes an unfair high price, and the reasonable range should be 10% - 17.5%. The US court also supported the demand for opening third - party payments in the Epic Games v. Apple case.

Currently, Samsung took the lead in May 2025 to reduce the commission rate of the Galaxy Store from 30% to 20%. Microsoft's Xbox Store has even reduced the commission to 12%. The industry is gradually bidding farewell to the era of the "30% commission convention". However, as another major industry giant, although Apple's App Store has opened up third - party payments in the EU region to comply with the "Digital Markets Act" and reduced the commission rate to 10% - 20%, it has not promoted this globally. Especially in the Chinese market, it still maintains strict restrictions, prohibiting the use of third - party payment channels and third - party app download channels, and the maximum commission rate still reaches 30%.

This article is from the WeChat public account "Jiemian News". The author is Li Kefeng, and it is published by 36Kr with authorization.