Google Reportedly Moving to Raise Play Store Fees

Google, which accounts for 90 percent of the South Korean app market together with Apple, is reportedly moving to receive 30 percent of all app-related payments as fees. Under the circumstances, content providers’ burden is predicted to explode.

Google has reportedly decided to expand the fees from game apps to every app and in-app purchase. This decision is likely to affect online video services, music services such as Melon and Vibe and content services with frequent in-app purchases such as Naver Webtoon and KakaoPage. The same uniform 30 percent fees are already in effect in the Apple App Store. Google’s change in policy is likely to result in higher prices and the burden is likely to be shifted to consumers.

Companies wishing to distribute their apps are incapable of objecting to the new policy due to the duopoly in the market. Last year, Google and Apple accounted for 63.4 percent and 24.4 percent of the total market transactions, respectively. This implies that any app distributor complaining about Google or Apple may experience disadvantages.

One of the examples is Epic Games. The company objected to the giants’ fees and made an attempt at direct payment based on its own systems, and then both Apple and Google erased its games from their app stores. Epic Games filed a suit against them in the United States and Facebook, Spotify and Match Group are currently supporting Epic Games.

Some companies in South Korea are preparing litigation, too. In addition, United Future Party lawmaker Park Sung-joong tabled an amendment to the Telecommunications Business Act on Aug. 12 in order to prevent app store operators from charging fees arbitrarily and forcing certain payment means.