The Google Play Store has become a big part of Google’s revenues these days, and even though it’ll take a big uptake in sales for it to overtake ads, it’s become a big deal. Not to mention the fact that, without the Google Play Store, Android users would have very little to entertain themselves. Since the Android Market was first launched, it’s become more than just a place for apps and games, but these still remain the big draw for a lot of users, with in-app purchases leading the way in sales overall.
Speaking of money, Google has just made it possible for developers and publishers to charge you a whole lot more. Throughout the majority of territories where Google allows paid apps and games in the Play Store, they’ve increased the top limit for how much things can cost by around two times. Here in the US, an app or game could previously only cost as much as $200, that now doubles to $400 and across the pond in the UK things double as well from £150 to £300. Across Europe, the pricing changes from the top limit of €199 to €350. In India, the limit now tops out at a whopping RS 26,000.
It’s not clear why this change was made, and considering Google has been pretty quiet about this, sneakily updating their customer support pages, it seems like this could be a routine change. There’s a chance that this could also move onto into content such as TV, Movies and Books, but again it’s unclear what was the catalyst – if any – for such a change. As for the apps that are likely to take advantage of this new limit, it’d be hard to see many users paying this much upfront for a game, so in-app purchases are about to get a whole lot bigger. If you want to see the full list of territories and their new top limit, you can check out Google’s customer support page down below.