Google will begin supporting more real-money games and apps this year after successful pilots and “positive feedback” from users and developers.
The tech giant began rolling out a wider range of RMG apps in 2021 in markets with pre-existing licensing frameworks.
Karan Gambhir, director, Global Trust and Safety Partnerships at Google, said the app category subsequently “continued to flourish” and revealed in a blog post that expanded RMG support will begin in June for developers and users in India, Mexico and Brazil.
Google said it wants its Google Play app store to “keep up with the pace of developer innovation” after “strong demand” for RMG games before their introduction from Google in 2021.
In India, developers in the Google Play Pilot Program for distributing Daily Fantasy Sports and Rummy apps to users in India, the grace period for pilot apps has been extended until the end of June, from which point the new policy will take effect.
Developers will be free to distribute RMG apps on Google Play to users in India, beyond DFS and Rummy, “in compliance with local laws and our updated policy,” Gambhir said.
He added: “Google Play’s existing developer policies supporting user safety, such as requiring age-gating to limit RMG experiences to adults and requiring developers use geo-gating to offer RMG apps only where legal, remain unchanged and we’ll continue to strengthen them.
“In addition, Google Play will continue other key user safety and transparency efforts such as our expanded developer verification mechanisms.
“We are working closely with developers to ensure our new approach reflects the unique economics and various developer earning models of this industry. We will have more to share in the coming months on our new policy and future expansion plans.”
