In March 2021, Google declared that it will soon halve Play Store commissions to 15% for developers earning less than $1 million in yearly revenue. This is quite like the pattern that Apple announced in November 2020. Now Google has begun notifying developers that they can begin enrolling the reduced commission tier; which will formally kick off on July 1.

In emails that are being sent out on a rolling basis to developers who publish apps on the Play Store, Google highlights that:

Enroll now for the 15% service fee: Starting July 1st, the service fee will be 15% instead of 30% for your first $1M (USD) of earnings each year. To make sure you are eligible for the 15% service fee tier, you’ll need to create an Account group in Google Play Console. The Account Group page is open now, so head to Play Console to enroll.

If you are a developer, you can simply go to the Account Group page on the Play Console and create an account. The account group is used to link Associated Developer Accounts (ADAs); so Google can make sure that you’re eligible for the 15% service fee tier; and so that all accounts in a group can reap this benefit, among others. Additionally, you also need to set up a payments profile and agree to the terms of service for the 15% service fee tier. If you’re unsure about how to create an account group or a payments profile; head over to Google’s documentation here and here, respectively.

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Once you are done, you will see a banner at the bottom of the page; indicating that your reduced service fee tier will begin on July 1, 2021. If you enroll after July 1, that date will be your starting date.

It is important to note that Google’s reduced service tier is more developer-friendly than Apple’s. On the App Store, anyone who made less than $1 million in a year would qualify for the program; but as soon as that threshold was broken, the 30% commission would kick in again; and developers can’t qualify for the reduced commission the next year if they pass $1 million in revenue. Google, on the other hand, is giving every developer a 15% commission for the first million dollars they make each year, and the standard rate is applied after that. This means that, if an app developer earns $3 million in one year, they will pay a 15% commission on the first million, then 30% of the additional $2 million.

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