Court Exhibit·18 OCT 2017
When You Cut Prices, Control the Volume of the Announcement
A price cut only helps you if it doesn't teach the market that your old price was negotiable.
Source document — Google Play Billing Transaction Fee Update Email Thread · In re Google Play Store Antitrust Litigation (Epic v. Google) · 3:21-md-02981 (CAND), Doc. 886-52, filed 2023-12-21 (page 1)
Excerpt · In Sameer Samat & Laura Willis & Hiroshi Lockheimer's own words
On Thursday we will be publicly announcing a change to our Google Play Billing transaction fee for developers with subscription SKUs. Starting January 1, 2018, we are adjusting the transaction fee to 15% for any subscriber a developer retains after 12 paid months. While we are mentioning the transaction fee update as part of the press around Playtime and in the blog post, we are not putting a lot of emphasis on it as it applies only to a subset of developers (subs devs) and is an industry standard.
Sameer Samat replied: "It's fine. Lowering fees to match Apple's existing plan. As we discussed. No mention of any policy change. And also we will not make this happen in a very vocal way it will be understated."
Hiroshi Lockheimer asked: "Is this up or down, will it be controversial, etc? Also are we following Sundar's guidance about getting feedback first before proceeding?"
Samat responded: "And to be clear this does not deviate from the plan we discussed so all good. (Plan on policy change is get partner feedback, discuss what next etc)."
The situation
In October 2017, Google's Play Store team sent an internal email announcing a fee reduction for subscription developers — from 30% to 15% after a subscriber's first 12 paid months, effective January 2018. The thread includes VP Sameer Samat and SVP Hiroshi Lockheimer. Samat explicitly notes the change will be 'understated.' Lockheimer's question — 'Is this up or down, will it be controversial?' — signals this wasn't a routine update.
The lesson
Samat frames the move in two words: 'Lowering fees to match Apple's existing plan.' That's price-matching, not price leadership. The strategic logic is defensive — close a gap a competitor already created, but don't dramatize it. His phrase 'will not make this happen in a very vocal way' is the real decision. If you announce a fee cut loudly, you confirm the old fee was a problem. You invite every other developer segment to ask for the same deal. Keeping it 'understated' limits contagion across your pricing tiers. Lockheimer also asks whether Sundar's guidance on getting partner feedback first was followed — Samat's reply suggests a separate policy change process is running in parallel. These are two different levers being carefully kept apart.
Put it to work
When you adjust pricing for one customer segment, decide in advance how loudly you'll announce it. A quiet adjustment to a subset preserves your headline rate for everyone else. Before you cut, write down which segments will hear about it and through what channel — then stick to that plan.
How this surfaced
- Source type
- Court Exhibit
- Case / record
- In re Google Play Store Antitrust Litigation (Epic v. Google)
- Citation
- 3:21-md-02981 (CAND), Doc. 886-52, filed 2023-12-21
- Date authored
- October 18, 2017
- License
- Public domain
- Original
- View the primary source →
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