In light of the new law in South Korea, the Google Play Store has started allowing third-party payment systems.
Play Store user will determine the payment method
Google said they respected the new law in South Korea and acted to comply, and announced the new era in the Play Store as follows:
The South Korean government recently passed a law on app stores and billing systems for users in South Korea. We respect the decision of the National Assembly. Including the option to add google play’s billing system as well as an alternative in-app billing system to developers selling in-app digital products and services; we’ve made a few changes to comply with the new law.
Google said developers in South Korea can now add different billing systems to their mobile apps. The tech giant does not offer the same flexibility in other countries, stating that the user will decide which billing option the transaction will continue with at checkout.
The company also issued a warning to smartphone and tablet users with Android operating systems. Parental controls, family payment method, subscription management, Google Play gift cards, and Google-specific features such as Play Points may not be available on alternative billing systems, he noted.
Google, which receives a 15 percent commission on purchases for the app through its own billing system, announced it would cut 11 percent commission on alternative payments. That way, the 4 per cent will be in the developer’s pocket. This is expected to be reflected in the lower fee for the user.
It led to Fortnite being removed from stores.
Fortnite has seen one of the biggest effects of the ongoing ‘alternative payment’ fight between Google and Apple and app developers. Epic Games started selling Fortnite’s virtual currency, V-Bucks, in the game and used its own infrastructure as a payment option. This angered the tech giants, irrational to the game’s decommissioning from digital stores.
Epic Games took the opportunity to requestApple to activate its Fortnite developer account, taking advantage of the law adopted by South Korea. However, the US company has signalled that it will not back down, reiterating that Epic must comply with App Store rules.
