Play Pass is evil: Google angered developers with terms of its service

Google diluted Monday night with the announcement of the Play Pass, a subscription service that responded with Apple Arcade.

Users also pay $ 5 per month, gaining access to a set of games and applications without microtransactions, advertising and other things. For consumers, some pluses, but the developers criticized the Google service.

What is known

Application creators riot when they seeterms of payment. The system takes into account the time that the user spent in the application, and a certain indicator of value. Based on these variables, Google calculates a percentage of revenue, and sends money to developers.

The authors did not like this approach, because heencourages developers to create projects focused on the constant return of the player. So, the developers of runners and other casual arcades will receive more than the creators of single-story adventure.

According to IGN, a similar scheme usesSpotify music service that pays a percentage based on the number of times a track is played. As a result, light three-minute songs with an obsessive motive bring more money. At the same time, musicians can gain a fan base and earn money at concerts, but video game developers are deprived of this opportunity.

“Indie developers are not indie musicians. We do not go on tours. We cannot write singles quickly to get the attention of some popular playlist curator in a streaming service, ”wrote Will O’Neill, author of Actual Sunlight.

Google Play Pass has been criticized by No More Robots employee Mike Rose:

“I knew this would happen, because I’ve already receivedOffers from multiple platforms. They all said that they would pay according to the number of hours they spent in your game compared to all other games on the platform.

Wait a couple more years - we will drown in suchservices that will force developers to make games with the thought “How to make money?”. Short story games will supplant, we will drown in a sea of ​​“fortnight” and “one-armed bandits”. I know that I am bothering many people with these problems, but my goodness, we are standing on the edge of the abyss, and it seems that almost no one understands this ”

Niko gaming analyst joins the discussionPartners Daniel Ahmad. According to him, the Google system does create comfortable conditions for one type of game and negative for another. The same Xbox Game Pass is beneficial not only to users, but also to developers. So, developers receive a certain amount of "participation" in the program, and then Microsoft pays deductions.

“Let me be blunt, Will O’Neill is right. The Google Play Pass is good for Google and consumers, but terrible for small developers, ”Jay Powell wrote.