Google's Forced In-App Payments Increase Korea's Fees by 156.8 Billion Won

[Asia Economy Reporter Buaeri] It has been investigated that the additional commission revenue Google earns domestically due to its mandatory in-app payment policy and commission increase amounts to around 150 billion KRW.

On the 16th, according to the survey data received by Park Seong-jung, a member of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Communications Committee from the Ministry of Science and ICT, the domestic app market commission revenue is expected to increase by at least 88.5 billion KRW and up to 156.8 billion KRW due to Google's mandatory implementation of in-app payments.

The Ministry of Science and ICT surveyed 246 top companies accounting for more than 75% of domestic mobile app sales from September to October last year.

As of last year, domestic mobile app sales amounted to 7.5215 trillion KRW, of which sales through Google Play reached 5.0047 trillion KRW (66.5%). Apple accounted for 1.618 trillion KRW (21.5%), and One Store was estimated at 882.6 billion KRW (11.7%).

The total amount of commissions paid in the app market was 1.6358 trillion KRW, with commissions paid to Google Play at 1.0529 trillion KRW (64.3%), Apple at 443 billion KRW (27%), and One Store at 139.1 billion KRW (8%).

Commissions in the non-game sector, which is newly subject to in-app payment application, were calculated at 287.4 billion KRW.

Assuming this year's sales are the same as last year's, commissions in the non-game sector are estimated to increase by 88.5 billion KRW (30.8%), and applying the predicted sales figures of the surveyed companies for this year, the increase reaches 156.8 billion KRW (54.5%).

Among the surveyed companies, 35% responded that they would accept Google's policy change as is, with a higher response rate among large and medium-sized enterprises (57.1%) compared to small and medium enterprises (33.5%).

29.9% stated that they would raise consumer prices as a countermeasure, and 27.1% said they would use other app markets.

Seongjung Park, Member of the People Power Party

Representative Park said, "The ones who suffer the most when Google's mandatory in-app payment is implemented are the consumers, our citizens," and added, "Google, which holds a domestic market share of 70%, must present active countermeasures such as reducing commissions for small app market operators."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.