Google Commission Rate Lowered In South Korea

Google has announced that it will be lowering its commission rate on in-app purchases made on its platform, following mounting pressure against platform holders for what some describe as a monopoly. It should be noted that the move seems to only affect developers based in South Korea.

*EDIT: Previous versions of this article implied the change would be happening across the platform, but Google’s global HQ has not issued any statements to reflect that. This article has been edited to clarify that it would only be affecting developers in South Korea. 

According to Korean news site Yonhap News Agency, Google’s Korean branch told a Parliamentary committee that it would be reducing its 30% commission rate down to 15% if developers earn less than 1 Million USD a year, effective July 2021.

Apple did a similar move late last year, allowing many smaller app developers to keep a larger cut of their profits. This might be related to ongoing lawsuits planned against Apple and Google, challenging what’s seen as a monopoly due to the fact neither platform holder allows for competing app stores and alternative payment methods on the platform.

It’s been previously reported that a majority of app developers don’t make more than 1 million USD a year, so many of the smaller developers hurt be the Google commission rate should definitely see some relief once the new policy is implemented. Considering Yonhap News Agency implies that the cut looks at developers, not apps, the main target of Google’s high commission rate would be much larger developers like Epic, who would be charged based on their total earnings rather than be exempted for every app they developed that isn’t Fortnite.

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