Google slashes Stadia’s revenue share to try to attract developers

Google is revising how much of a cut it takes from Stadia games in a bid to try to attract more developers. Starting on October 1st, Google will take 15 percent of sales up to $3 million through the end of 2023.

With the change, Google seems to be trying to make its cloud gaming platform a more enticing option for developers — a proposition that has likely become much harder since the company shut down its own in-house studios. Google has also tried offering exclusive games to try to bring developers on board (which it presumably paid hefty sums to acquire), but many of those games have since been released on other platforms.

The news comes as revenue shares between developers and platform holders have come under intense scrutiny as of late. Google’s change with Stadia isn’t the first it’s made recently for its stores: the company reduced its Play Store cut to 15 percent for a developer’s first $1 million in annual revenue in March. That move followed a similar one from Apple in November, which announced that developers who earn less than $1 million per year on the App Store would qualify for a program where Apple would take a 15 percent cut of their revenues instead of the standard 30 percent fee.

Tuesday’s news was announced at the Google for Games Developer Summit. As part of the event, on Monday, Google announced that Android 12 will let you play games as you’re downloading them.