Pay To Play
Fortnite’s $147million ‘bribe’ only highlights Google Play’s ongoing payola problem
Google offered big money to keep Fortnite on Play. Now what’s to stop everyone else from holding the Play Store to ransom?
Company Profile
Google Play
About
Google Play gives you one place to find, enjoy and share your favorite entertainment, from apps to movies, music, books and more, on the web or any device. And with more than 1 billion active users in 190+ countries around the world, Play is an important distribution platform for developers to build a global audience.
Articles featuring Google Play
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2022 Highlights
2022 In Review – November’s Best Bits
As the year draws to a close, we take a look back with our pick of the stories that shaped the last twelve months. Let's look back to November
Awards
In-Depth: All the winners from the Google Play Awards 2022
We’ve covered Apex Legends Mobile’s sweep of the Apple and Google Awards for 2022, but what else got the nod from the Play Store?
Views Week
Week in Views - What caught our editorial eyes in the last seven days
This week we consider football, Japan, and whether we are living in (Back to) the Future
Rollout
Google Play on PC indicates move into an all in one screen model for mobile games
Google Play on PC has expanded further, to countries like the United States and Mexico, with positive feedback from players. So why would someone want to put mobile games on PC?
Google Pay
India’s antitrust watchdog fines Google for $113 million
The country found that Google abused its dominant position in the market
Ad Fraud
iPhone recorded more ad-related fraud than Android in Q2
The higher LTV of iPhone users makes them a prime target for fraud
A New Look
TapTap announces a rebrand, including new mascot
The Google Play alternative debuts a bold new look
Dropping The Bomb
Google Play implements review bombing prevention
Reviews will be delayed for 24 hours to give developers time to react
Hot Five
Hot Five: September 5th. The biggest stories from the last seven days, in a bite-sized digest
The HOTTEST stories on PocketGamer.biz in the last week
Open Beta
Google Play Games for PC enters open beta in five countries
The open beta catalogue is now available in Thailand and Australia and will come with over 50 titles, which can be played on Windows PCs via a standalone application built by Google
Policy Vs. Profit
Google’s new ad policy could be bad news for hypercasual games
Indie developers might find user acquisition and monetisation hit hard on September 1st
Making Changes
Google Play to allow alternative billing systems, but only for non-gaming apps
Changes to be made as a result of the Digital Markets Act
Eu Vs Tech Giants
EU approves Digital Market Act with implications for Apple and Google
The new legislation comes into force in Autumn
Behind The Scenes
How to soft launch a game on mobile in 2022
Google Play business development manager Nimrod Levy walked through the various steps involved from internal testing to pre-registration
Unite Highlight
Pokémon Unite wins best game at Google Play’s Best of 2021
Wild Rift, Overboard, and My Friend Pedro pick up two awards each
18 Months After Launch
Epic Games begrudgingly rolls out Fortnite on Google Play
"We hope that Google will revise its policies"
Big Numbers
Google Play handled 2 billion MAUs and 115 billion downloads in 2019
The most popular distribution store ever
Money For Not Much
Google's Play Points reward program launches in US
Reward system already live in Japan and Korea
Design Refresh
Google Play rolls out visual redesign to aid discoverability
Two distinct sections for apps and games
And The Winner Is
Ordia, Photographs and G30 - A Memory Maze win big at European Google Play Indie Games Showcase 2019
20 finalists arrived from 10 countries for the awards show in London
New Policies
Google Play developers must now disclose loot box odds
Details surrounding “randomised virtual items” must be clearly shown
Safe
Google Play introduces new target audience features to make the platform safer for kids
All apps will need to meet the new standards by September 1st 2019
Ads Equals Rewards
Google Play begins open beta for rewarded video ads powered by AdMob
Feature can be applied to any app
Family
Consumer group complains to FTC over 'inappropriate' kids apps
Children's games and apps were found to breach federal privacy laws in the United States
Crash Course
Google Play removes 13 phoney apps from a single developer for installing malware
But not before the racing games accumulated over half a million downloads
Top Stuff
Here are the longest-serving number one games and apps on Google Play since 2012
Sensor Tower reports on the high flyers over the last six years of the Android storefront
Play
Google Play improves support for app bundles and subscriptions
It has also launched Academy for App Success interactive courses for developers
Android
App Annie: Fortnite will push Android apps to over 170 billion downloads in 2018
Users to spend over $50 billion on the platform this year
Fort-not
Google Play now warning Fortnite fans that the game isn’t on its Android store
Despite best efforts, clones are likely to flood the Google Play store
Is It Worth It?
Is it time for the App Store and Google Play to ditch the 70/30 revenue split?
The mobile mavens offer their opinions
Hub
Google Play testing news and trending hub features with Google Play Games
News and trending features make up the new additions
Excellent
Google Play Excellence program welcomes Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and six other games
World of Warships: Blitz and Flutter: Starlight also feature in high-quality highlights list
Drop
Drastic drop in Google Play downloads rocks indie devs after discovery algorithm fiasco
Devs started noticing the abnormal behaviour on Thursday, June 21st
Change The Game
Google Play reveals winners of Change the Game Design Challenge
Winners snagged an expenses free trip to E3 and a scholarship to a Girls Make Games
Summer Camp
First Person
Google out to highlight mobile games stars with new behind-the-scenes series
First three videos feature voice actor Ashly Burch, games dev Bennett Foddy and Ink Stories co-founder Vassiliki Khonsari
Winning
Empires and Puzzles takes home Best Breakthrough Hit from Google Play Awards
Broken Rules also won the Standout Indie Award while Pocket Gem snagged the Community Award
Its Time To Play The Game
Google Play Instant opens to all Android developers
The internet giant revealed the update at its I/O 2018 developer conference
They Nominated Who
45 Android apps and games up for 2018 Google Play Awards
Well-being, accessibility and social impact make their debut as categories
Legal Investigation
Report: South Korea’s FTC investigates Google Play over claims it abused market leading position
Storefront accounted for 60 per cent of all mobile app content sales in 2017
Shrinking Marketplace
Google Play continues to grow while number of App Store releases shrinks for the first time
There were 755,000 titles released on iOS in 2017, a drop of 29 per cent
Change The Game
Google Play challenges female teens to change the game with new design challenge
Students could win college scholarship of $10,000 and $15,000 school pledge, plus all-expenses paid trip to E3
Instant Gaming
Android Instant lets players quickly trial games like Clash Royale with tiny downloads
Service currently in closed beta
Reaching Out
Google Play reveals a slew of new mobile game advertising features
Rewarded video, playables and open bidding heading to Google Play and the company's services
Showcasing Diversity
Google highlights games made by women as part of Change the Game initiative
Apps highlighted include 80 Days, Zen Koi 2, Race for the Galaxy and Kami 2
Google Play Winner
Bury me, my Love scoops top prize at the second Google Play Indie Games in Europe
Old Man's Journey and Yellow take second and third
Indie Showcase
Google Play Indie Games Contest heads to London next week
Takes place at Saatchi Gallery on February 13th
Win Big
Google Play Indie Games Contest open for entries
Submit your title by 6pm GMT on December 31st
Data Protection
App and game developers have only 60 days to comply with the new Google Play user privacy guidelines
Privacy is the new black! The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will be upon us in May 2018
Change The Game
Google Play launches Change the Game initiative to promote diversity in mobile games
Finds that 49% of all mobile gamers in the US are women