30% Cut Era Is Over: Devs Take Back Control from Google Play
🚨 Attention Mobile Game Devs & Publishers, it’s big.
- The mobile ecosystem just cracked open.
- You no longer have to choose between visibility and freedom. Now you can have both.
- From now on, your biggest marketplace might just be your own.
🚀 The Big Shift
As of October 29, 2025, Google Play developers in the U.S. can now integrate external purchase options directly inside their games.
That means:
- External checkout links allowed — No more forced Google Billing
- Anti-steering lifted — Add buy buttons, banners, and web shop links inside your game
- Up to 95% revenue kept instead of losing the 30% cut
- Third-party store distribution coming in July 2026
This, combined with Apple’s April’25 update, officially cracks the app-store duopoly. The D2C era is here.
💰 What It Means
Developers can now control how players pay — and keep more of every dollar.
With partners like Xsolla, Tipalti, or Neon Checkout, studios can earn up to 95% of gross revenue and own the player relationship end-to-end.
Early iOS data shows:
- In-game links → +120% D2C revenue
- Full web shops → +65% growth
Studios that treat direct sales as part of gameplay — with web-only offers, loyalty perks, and exclusive bundles — see the biggest lift.
⚙️ 5 Steps to Own Your Checkout
- Sync your game catalog with web SKUs
- Add player authentication for smooth linking
- Redirect payments to browser checkout
- Auto-return players after payment
- Reward direct buyers with extra value
Simple setup, bigger margins.
🧩 Straight from Google
“Google will not prohibit a developer from communicating with users about the availability or pricing of an app outside the Google Play Store… and will not require the use of Google Play Billing.”
These changes come from the Epic Games vs. Google ruling, effective until Nov 1, 2027 — a landmark win for developers and publishers.
🔮 What’s Next
In 2026, Android opens to third-party stores, letting studios launch their own branded app hubs.
The walls are coming down.
For devs chasing higher margins, player loyalty, and creative monetization, this is the start of a new D2C era.
