Google launches Play Pass subscription service in India

Alphabet-owned Google on Monday said it is introducing its Play Pass service in India from this week.

The subscription service, which is currently available in 90 countries, provides access to many apps and games without ads, in-app purchases, and upfront payments.

"Play Pass is rolling out to Android devices in India this week and will offer a high-quality and curated collection of 1000+ titles across 41 categories from developers across 59 countries, including India," the tech giant said.

Users can get started with a one-month trial and subscribe for ₹99 per month or pay ₹889 for the year. They can also avail a prepaid one month subscription for ₹109. With Google family group, family managers can share their Play Pass subscription with up to five other family members.

"With the potential to access users across 90 countries, Play Pass will offer Indian developers of all types of apps and games a new avenue to expand their global user base and unlock new revenue streams," Google said.

The tech giant said it will continue to work with global and local developers to add great new games and apps every month so that there is always something new to discover on Play Pass.

Once Play Pass is available this week, users can start their trial by opening the Play Store app on your Android device, tapping the profile icon at the top right, and looking for "Play Pass". Subscribers can access the collection of apps and games through the Play Pass tab or by looking for the Play Pass "ticket" when browsing titles on the Play Store.

"We want to deliver products and programs that the Play community - both users and developers - find value in, and we are always looking for new ways to do this," said Aditya Swamy, director, Play Partnerships, Google India.

The Play Pass collection includes a range of titles including sports, puzzles, and action games. Users will find games like Jungle Adventures, World Cricket Battle 2, and Monument Valley, apps like Utter, Unit Converter and AudioLab, as well as Photo Studio Pro, Kingdom Rush Frontiers TD, and many more.

Developers earn a royalty that is based on algorithmic methods that incorporate signals which capture how users value all types of content.

In a separate blog, the search giant said its Incident Response Team is actively monitoring the war in Ukraine. “Our threat intelligence teams continue to search for and disrupt disinformation campaigns, government-backed hacking and financially motivated abuses, and work with other companies and relevant government agencies to address these threats,” it said.

Google said it has increased account security for people in the region and will continue to do so as cyber threats evolve.

The company said it has removed hundreds of YouTube channels and thousands of videos in the last few days. “We are also blocking advertising related to this crisis, which seeks to take advantage of the situation,” it said.