Google charges up to 30 percent commission on payments, Indian gaming CEOs call for government intervention

Leading Indian gaming CEOs on Monday slammed Google over up to 30 percent commission charged by the tech giant on in-app purchases in the country. Google forces a consumer to pay only through their payment system for any mandatory in-app purchase and in turn, it charges a commission fee of 30 percent from the developer.

If a developer charges Rs 100 for any mandatory in-app purchase, Rs 30 goes to Google as commission and 70 goes to the developer. A developer needs revenue from games to pay for hosting, user acquisition, and other expenses.
The CEOs were participating in a panel discussion held at ‘Consilience 2023′, organised by the Law and Technology Society (L-Tech) at the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) in partnership with All India Game Developers’ Forum (AIGDF).

Making a case for lowering the commission, Sai Srinivas, Co-founder and CEO, Mobile Premier League (MPL) said that the 30 percent commission may be viable in advanced economies like the US, but Indian game developers need more revenue to invest in the game development.

Terming the 30 percent commission as the ‘jagirdari’ tax, Manish Agarwal, Co-founder, IndiGG, said, “Adding an extra 30 per cent tax on top of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is a significant expense for consumers, which is unproductive from a gamer’s perspective.”

Indian gaming CEOs are not the only ones who are fighting against this monopolistic payment policy of Google, in August 2021, South Korea amended its Telecommunications Business Act to make Google and Apple offer third-party payment methods to developers.

Recently, in an ongoing battle against Google’s alleged monopolistic practices in India, the Alliance for Digital India Foundation (ADIF) gained the support of South Korean legislator, Assemblywoman Jungmin Hong who compared India’s situation to that of South Korea.

At the panel discussion, Sean Hyunil Sohn, CEO, Krafton Inc. India, called for proper intervention by the government and encouraged the development of competition from third-party stores, supported by consumers.
Meanwhile, the government has notified new rules to protect online gamers from harmful content and addiction. Under the rules, the government defines an online game as “a game that is offered on the Internet and is accessible by a user through a computer resource or an intermediary.” However, online games that are involved in wagering and betting will fall foul of the new rules.

–IANS

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