Google Play authorises game subscriptions

Developers are now free to introduce subscription payments in their Google Play titles.

The first title to use the feature is already live – Glu Mobile’s Frontline Commando.

This allows games to offer monthly or annual subscriptions, expanding the options open to developers for monetizing their titles. Google says that in-app-payments already generate more revenue that standard app purchases.

Google Play users are able to view their auto-renewing charges subscriptions in the My Apps section of the Play Store app. They will also be able to cancel memberships from this screen.

On the developer side, Google has also introduced an HTTP-based publisher API that allows the use of backend servers to validate or cancel subscriptions.