Google will start hosting all types of licensed real money gaming apps on its Play Store from June onwards. Earlier, only Rummy and Fantasy Games apps were given a place on Google Play Stores as a pilot project.
Announcing this, Google’s Director Trust and Global Partnership Karan Gambhir wrote that we had run a pilot regarding real money gaming, seeing its positive results we are taking it forward. Google Play will host more real money games apps this year. These will also include those apps and games, which were not included in the pilot (licensing framework).
Karan wrote on Google Android Developers Blog that For developers in the Google Play Pilot Program for distributing DFS and Rummy apps to users in India, we are extending the grace period for pilot apps to remain on Google Play until June 30, 2024 when the new policy will take effect. After that time, developers can distribute RMG apps on Google Play to users in India, beyond DFS and Rummy, in compliance with local laws and our updated policy.
There is a lot of happiness in the gaming industry about this. Roland Landers, CEO of leading gaming association All India Gaming Federation, said that As the representative body of online gaming in India, we welcome this progressive decision by Google to allow all Pay to Play skill games on the Play Store. We have been advocating the same for and believe that this will give a big boost to the Indian online gaming industry, where over 70 percent of the revenue is generated by Pay to Play platforms.
This decision will help with responsible innovation and provide a bouquet of choices to the Indian consumer. It will especially help MSMEs and new developers/platforms who will be able to compete with established companies, and will substantially bring down the user acquisition and other associated costs.
We look forward to engaging with Google while it evolves the detailed policy and hope that the policy will be truly inclusive and help democratize online gaming in India.
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