Google today shared more details about its plans to charge for compliance with Europe's new Digital Markets Act (DMA), a new regulation aimed at increasing competition across the app store ecosystem. While the company yesterday pointed to ways it already complies with the Digital Markets Act - such as allowing sideloading of apps - it has yet to reveal specific details on how much it will charge developers, noting that more details will be revealed this week.
It turns out that the time is now. Today, Google announced that it will be charging two fees for the External Offers program announced yesterday. The new program allows PlayStore developers to educate users in the European Economic Area outside of their apps, including by promoting offers.
With these fees, Google is following the path of Apple, which reduced its AppStore commission in the EU to comply with the DMA but implemented a new core technology fee that requires developers to pay €0.50 for apps distributed outside the AppStore that exceed a threshold of 1 million first installs per year. Apple explained that the services it provides developers are not limited to payment processing, but also include supporting app creation and discovery, making APIs, frameworks and tools to support developers' app creation efforts, combating fraud, and more.
Google has adopted a similar strategy, saying in a blog post today: "Google Play service fees have never been simply payment processing fees. They reflect the value that Android and Play provide and support our continued investment in Android and Google Play to enable users and developers to use the features that people rely on."
It said there will now be two fees for external offer program transactions:
Initial acquisition fee is 10% for in-app purchases and 5% for a two-year subscription. Google said the fee represents the value Play provides to acquire initial users through the Play Store.
Ongoing service fee, 17% for in-app purchases and 7% for subscriptions. This reflects "the broader value that Play provides to users and developers, including ongoing services such as parental controls, safety scanning, fraud prevention, and ongoing app updates," Google wrote.
It is worth noting that developers can withdraw from ongoing services and corresponding fees after two years if users agree. Users who initially install an app assume they will get services like parental controls, safety scans, fraud prevention, and ongoing app updates, which is why opting out requires user consent. Although Google allows developers to terminate this fee, these ongoing services will no longer apply. However, developers still have a responsibility to report transactions involving users who continue to receive PlayStore services.
Google also shared more practical examples of this fee structure today and answered a series of general questions developers might have, such as whether the program is opt-in or opt-out (only the former), whether it applies to games and apps equally (yes), whether developers can opt-in to only select apps (yes), and other technical integration details. Developers must register for the program as a business rather than as an individual, the company said. The company also noted that developers can continue to use Google Play's billing system while participating in external promotion programs.
In addition to the "External Offers" program, Google this week launched two other programs that allow in-app purchases to use alternative billing systems. This week, both programs will be extended to all developers offering apps to users in the European Economic Area.