How to publish a game on Google Play: what you need

What does Google Play require to publish a game?

A developer account paid one time, the game in the store's own format, a well-built store page, and a few forms about age and privacy. If the account is personal and new, there is also a test with 12 people for 14 days in a row before you can publish².

You can do all of it from home, on a computer, without a company. But it is not a single button, and it helps to know the order before you start, because one of the steps depends on other people and cannot be rushed.

The steps below apply to Google Play, the Android app store. The rules change from time to time: this page gathers what Google's official help said in October 2026, with a link to each rule at the end.

Prices as of October 2026. Each step is explained below.

Who can open a developer account, and how much does it cost?

Anyone 18 or older, paying $25 one time only¹. It is not a monthly fee: the same account works for publishing more games later. Price as of October 2026.

Google Play has two kinds of accounts, personal and organization, which is the one for companies¹. If you are starting out on your own, the personal account is the usual path, and it is the one that goes through the closed test explained further down.

When you sign up, Google confirms who you are. The Play Console Help warns that it may ask for an official ID and a credit card, both in your full name. If the details don't match, the fee is not refunded¹. Prepaid cards are not accepted¹.

New personal accounts also need to confirm they have access to an Android phone, through the Play Console app¹. Our take: have the ID and the card at hand before you start, and check that the name on both matches what you are going to type.

What is the 14-day closed test?

It is a period when your game is available only to people you invited, before it goes out to everyone. For personal accounts created after November 13, 2023, Google Play requires at least 12 testers opted in without a break for at least 14 days². The 14 days must be in a row to count².

Picture it: Sunday night, the game is ready on your computer and you want to see it in the store. This is the step you cannot take alone. You need 12 people with Android phones who accept the invitation and stay opted in the whole time, and the clock only runs while they are in.

When the 14 days are over, you apply for production access in the Play Console dashboard. The application has three sets of questions: about the closed test, about the game, and about whether it is ready for the public². According to Google, this review usually takes seven days or less, but sometimes it takes longer. If the store thinks the game needs more testing, you may have to keep testing².

Our take is that three precautions help:

• Invite the 12 early, while the game is still being made. Friends, family, and coworkers who use Android.
• Invite more than 12. If someone drops out halfway, the count can fall below the minimum.
• Ask them to really play. The test exists to find errors, and the questions in the application are about what the test showed.

What format does the game go to the store in?

In a package called Android App Bundle, or AAB. It is a file that carries the whole game, and Google Play itself builds from it the right version for each phone⁴. Since August 2021, every new app on Google Play must be uploaded in this format⁴.

The game also has to be built for a recent version of Android. Since August 31, 2026, new apps and updates must target Android 16, which in the field is called API level 36, or newer. If you need more time, you can request an extension until November 1, 2026⁵.

Both points sound technical, and the AI can help adjust the game's settings. Our take: what stays with you is checking, before you upload, that the file really is an AAB and that the required Android version is correct. To see the whole path, from the idea to the file, read how to make a game with AI.

What goes on the game's store page?

It is the shop window: what people see before they download. The store asks for text and images in fixed sizes.

A screenshot is a picture of the game's screen while it runs. Our take: it matters more than it seems, because it is what decides whether someone downloads or moves on to the next game. Pick the moments where the game shows what makes it different, not the title screen.

The AI can help write the descriptions and prepare the images. What it does not know is what makes your game worth it for someone looking at the shop window. That is still your job.

What forms does the store ask for before publishing?

Four, and none of them is optional for anyone who publishes.

• Age rating. Every new app must answer a questionnaire. Google Play ratings are given by IARC, an international age rating coalition, based on your answers. Apps without a rating are removed from the store⁸.
• Target audience. You state which age groups the game is made for. If the audience includes children, the game must follow the rules of Google Play's Families policy⁹.
• Privacy policy. It is a web page that explains what the game does with players' data. Even a game that collects nothing must provide its link¹⁰.
• Data safety. It is a form where you say what the game collects and shares. Every developer with an app published on Google Play must fill it out¹⁰.

One detail of the data safety form catches a lot of people, in our view: tools from other companies built into the game, such as ad and analytics tools, also collect data. According to Google, what they collect or share must show up in your answers, and the responsibility lies with whoever publishes¹⁰.

Do I have to disclose that the game was made with AI?

In the Google Play pages we read, there is no rule requiring you to disclose that a game's art or code was made with AI before launch.

The Google Play rule on AI covers a different case: apps that generate content with AI from what the user asks for, such as a chatbot or an image generator. Those must have, inside the app, a way for people to report or flag bad content¹¹. If your game creates text or images with AI while someone plays, that rule applies to it.

Other stores have their own rules. Before publishing somewhere else, read the rules there.

How much does Google Play keep from each sale?

It depends on where the buyer is. The fee applies to what is sold through the store: the paid game and in-game purchases¹². Figures as of October 2026.

In 2026, Google changed the rule in five places: the European Economic Area (EEA), the United Kingdom, and the United States since June 30, and Australia and Japan since September 30. There, the fee depends on whether the install is new or old, and there is a separate 5% charge for the store's payment system¹².

Everywhere else, the old rule applies until the new one arrives¹². Brazil, for example, is not among the five places listed, so, by our reading of the page, the old rule is the one that applies there for now.

Source: Play Console Help on service fees¹², read in October 2026.

A quick calculation to get a sense of scale, marked as an example: if a player in Brazil pays the equivalent of $1 for an in-game purchase, 15 cents go to the store under the old rule. No one can promise that the game will sell, and what is left after the store is still not profit: taxes and your own costs come next.

In how many countries can the game be published?

On Google Play's official list, in the version published on September 28, 2026, we counted 177 countries and regions with their own line, plus a "Rest of the world" option that covers other places¹³. The count is ours, done on the open page.

The publisher chooses where the game appears. The same list shows, for each place, whether people can download free games, whether they can buy, and in which currency¹³. In Brazil, for example, the price of a game or an in-game purchase can range from R$ 0.30 to R$ 5,200, in Brazilian reais¹³.

How long does it take, from finished game to store?

For a new personal account, at least the two weeks of the closed test, plus the time to review the application (our math)². The Play Console Help also warns that, for some accounts, the review of a game can take up to seven days, or longer in exceptional cases³.

Our take: the way to avoid losing time is to do in parallel everything that does not depend on the finished game: open the account, write the privacy policy, gather the testers, and prepare the store page text. How long the game itself takes is in how long it takes to make your first game, and the cost of each part is in how much it costs to make a game with AI.

The other side

Publishing is not selling. Getting through the test and the review puts the game in the store, but it does not bring players: the store has a lot of games, and getting people to find yours is a separate job. The rules also change often; the fees, for example, changed in five places in 2026. And the store can reject an application or ask for more testing. Before you start, read the official pages listed in the sources again.

Your action plan

Check off what you've done. It's saved on this device, so you can pick up where you left off.

1. Set aside an official ID and a credit card in your name that is not prepaid.
2. Make a list of at least 12 people with Android phones who would agree to test your game for 14 days in a row.
3. Write the game's privacy policy and publish it on a web page.
4. Write down what the game collects from players, including what ad or analytics tools collect.
5. Write the game's name in up to 30 characters and the short description in up to 80.
6. Pick three moments of the game that show what makes it different, to turn into screenshots.
7. Read the closed test page for new personal accounts in Google Play's official help.