Paywall: about 15% of Russian apps may disappear from Google Play
About 10-15% of Russian applications may disappear from Google Play, Izvestia has learned. The app store has notified domestic developers of the termination of cooperation - from December 26, payment processing will be frozen indefinitely. Experts believe that our specialists have the opportunity to use alternative ways, for example, to open an account in friendly CIS countries or to switch to RuStore and "Yandex Store" platforms. What other ways to get out of the situation - in the material of Izvestia.
What will change for developers after the innovations of Google Play
Application store Google Play from December 26 for an indefinite period of time will stop processing payments to developers whose bank accounts are opened in Russia, follows from the letter of the service. In fact, developers will be deprived of income from sales worldwide. In addition, the restrictions will affect monetization - all attempts of users to purchase paid applications, make purchases, as well as renew subscriptions with payment through "Google Play payments" will be rejected. Developers will receive final payments for all transactions in Google Play on January 15, 2025, the letter says.
As told "Izvestia" in the Association of the game industry, a small share of applications will disappear from Google Play, as the bulk of market players in one form or another have prepared backup options for profit in case of blocking direct financial interactions with Russian payments.
According to the expectations of a market source, the share of such applications will amount to less than 15%. Denis Kuskov, general director of TelecomDaily, puts the figure at 10%. However, the press service of the online game development school "Xyz" believes that a large number of Russian applications will be removed from the store. The exact percentage depends on which categories of applications will be affected.
"Izvestia" sent a request to Google.
Many smartphone manufacturers in addition to Google Play have their own payment systems - for example, AppGallery from Huawei, with which there are no problems of this format so far, the association added.
- As for the AppStore, it is difficult to predict how this store will behave in the current situation, as it is currently more loyal than Google, and there you can pay in Russia from mobile operators' wallets. But we cannot rule out that Apple will follow the same path in the future," Vladimir Prokuronov, director of the association, told Izvestia.
Besides, according to him, the majority of mobile software developers cooperate with Google, as well as with Apple - these are the largest mobile application stores in the world.
- Working with them makes it easy to launch their products all over the world through just two stores, while in Russia mobile games are placed in RuStore and on their own sites, - said the expert.
RuStore has more than 15 thousand developers who regularly publish applications and monetize them, the press service of the app store told Izvestia.
- Almost all popular applications from the top-100 in Russia can be downloaded in RuStore for a long time, and the catalog is actively replenished with games, which bring the developers the main income, - said the press service.
RuStore launched this year a special payment tool, which makes it possible to receive payments in applications installed from any stores. It means that no matter in which store a developer puts his application, with the integration of this tool, he will continue to receive payments, the press service concluded.
Yaroslav Meshalkin, managing partner of Heads'made digital communications agency, believes that Google Play's decision does not look critical for the market - a very small number of Russian banks were already available for payments, and many developers had accounts in friendly CIS countries. Now they have become more relevant. There are also solutions within games that allow you to accept payments from the Russian-speaking audience. Advertising monetization through in-game videos and banners will not be affected by the changes at all, the expert summarized.
What sites developers can move to
Google blocking, apparently, will progressively affect all services and all developers from Russia are preparing for it in one way or another, said Gaukhar Aldiyarova, Business Development Director of Lesta Games Group.
- In fact, according to the information we have, Google has not made payments to Russian developers for several years, so the official notice of blocking payments does not change much in the current situation," she told Izvestia.
According to the expert, most major studios have long provided ways out of the situation. They are betting on the growth of Russian services such as RuStore, on foreign services from friendly countries such as Huawei AppGallery, as well as on their own distribution platforms.
- The blocking story will hit hard only the smallest game studios, which have recently started their way and have not yet prepared "workarounds". Whether the problem will affect the AppStore is hard to predict, but you should be prepared for it," says Gaukhar Aldiyarova.
Inside Russia, this story began on March 10, 2022 - the developers of the Russian Federation lost the ability to make payments through the payment system Google Play, recalled the co-founder of the geosocial application Blink Maxim Klimchuk. Therefore, inside Russia and Belarus, all developers switched to the scheme with payment for purchases/subscriptions on an external resource via a link or by opening Webview (a browser embedded in the application), he said.
- Domestic developers have always been characterized by their flexibility of mind, so most of them will definitely find a solution," the expert believes.
Restricting the monetization of applications is nothing more than another manifestation of Russophobia, an attempt to show that there are still some levers of pressure, but in fact it is a fiction. Russian developers have a place to place their applications and successfully monetize them, Duma deputy Anton Nemkin told Izvestia.
- Another question is how Russian developers themselves will feel about it - whether they need such a strange "cooperation". I think that a considerable part of applications may leave Google Play just by the decision of the developers themselves, - said the deputy.
As for the AppStore, Apple is actually much more loyal to the Russian market, he believes. Nevertheless, unexpected decisions of foreign companies, which they often make under pressure, should not be ruled out, he summarized.
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