Epic Games picked a fight with Google over a 30% cut back in 2020. It cost both companies years of court dates to settle. That fight is finally paying off for every Android developer, not just Epic. Play Store external payments are arriving for real this time. Google has confirmed a June 30 start date in the US, UK, and EU.
According to Google’s own announcement on the Android Developers Blog, the flat 30% commission is going away entirely. In its place, developers get a split fee structure. A 10% service fee applies to the first $1 million in annual revenue, no matter which payment method gets used. That includes Google Play Billing, a developer’s own system, or a straight link out to their website. Auto-renewing subscriptions fall under that same 10% rate too. Developers who stick with Google Play Billing also pay an extra 5% billing fee on top. That charge disappears entirely if they route payments elsewhere instead.
What changes for developers and users
Past the $1 million mark, fees climb again. They climb differently depending on whether a buyer is a new install or someone who already had the app before June 30. Google didn’t spell out exact numbers for that tier in its announcement, just the new versus existing distinction.
This builds on the alternative billing option Google already opened up in the US back in October. Back then, developers could swap billing systems but couldn’t avoid Google’s cut entirely. Now they can skip Google’s payment system altogether through Play Store external payments and keep more of what they earn. Epic already tested the appetite for that kind of independence when it brought Fortnite back to Google Play with its own payment system intact.
Australia gets Play Store external payments in September, Japan and Korea follow in December, and the rest of the world waits until 2027. Will lower fees actually translate into cheaper apps, or just fatter margins for the developers collecting them?
