Now by subscription
Yesterday, Google Corporation introduced subscription support in its own app store. Glu Mobile immediately took advantage of this. They implemented a subscription for their virtual currency: now for $9.99 a month, players receive twice as many credits as they would if they paid the same amount all at once.
At first glance, it might seem that Google is somewhat lagging behind. Its competitor, Apple, introduced in-app subscriptions back in February 2011. However, the difference is that subscriptions on Android can be implemented in absolutely any application, not just in magazines and newspapers.
This step by Google opens completely new horizons for developers. Now, within the mobile platform, MMOs with the standard payment scheme become possible, and a paying f2p player can eventually be fully transitioned to a subscription, thereby securely tying them to the game.
Subscription updates will be downloaded automatically, and funds will be automatically deducted from the account. Google promises, however, to notify users if the subscription price changes and regularly inform them of how much each new update will cost.
Interestingly, the subscription is not limited to Google Play. Users will be able to access content they subscribed to within Android on other platforms (and even from the developer's website) if the user identification system of that platform is ratified by Google.
From the subscription, the company will receive the already familiar 30% cut for mobile software developers. However, judging by last year’s situation with The Financial Times on iOS, not everyone is ready to share that today. The essence of the story back then was that the management of the business newspaper refused to remit 30% of each subscription to the "apple giant" and withdrew their app from the store.
Nonetheless, the new offer by Google has already been taken up by the British company Glu Mobile, known for projects such as Deer Hunter Reloaded, Blood & Glory, Frontline Commando, and Eternity Warriors. They even enhanced the service by creating a universal virtual currency for all the company's projects. So now, "just" $9.99 a month gives the user a substantial amount of points (520) to spend in all the company's games.
In a month, it will be very interesting to learn about the first results of this experiment, but for now, we can only speculate whether this type of subscription will significantly boost app revenues on the Android platform.
