Posted by _____k 2 hours ago
“Did you hear? On Red Square they’re giving away cars.”
“Not quite. First, it’s not on Red Square but on Dzerzhinsky Square. Second, they’re not cars but bicycles. And third, they’re not giving them away, they’re stealing them.”
My read is:
* Developers using Google to process payments should expect to go from a 30% fee to a 25% fee (20% service fee + 5% billing fee).
* Subscriptions will now have a 15% fee (20% service fee + 5% billing fee)
* Some Third Party App Stores will be easier to install
[1] https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2026/03/a-new-era-...
Also, the fee is reduced to 20 or 15 percent, not fully gone.
This almost reads like a sponsored article written by Google themselves.
https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2026/03/a-new-era-...
I wouldn't die on this hill. Epic is about as un-sympathetic character in the videogame space as you'll find anywhere. Epic wasn't trying to be altruistic.
It's just big billion dollar corporations deciding on who keeps what cut.
They might also direct the money towards funding more exclusives. Epic's funding has enabled some games to be made that wouldn't have been otherwise, or that wouldn't have been as full featured without that up-front cash.
They sell gambling to children via lootboxes; I'm not saying they're the good guy corp. But removing Apple and Google's monopoly over phone apps and app stores would only be a good thing, in my opinion.
Finally. As a de-Googled phone owner I am glad that this will allow alternative payments where I can pay developers directly without Google taking it's protection money.
I think Amazon finally killed its app store. I wonder if there are any others that have the clout and inclination to register as an alternative app store and actually get developers to bother uploading there.
And they're still taking 10% for subscriptions. What's the justification there?