Google announced the Google Play Pass today, a new subscription service for Android users. But an FAQ explainer on how royalties for developers work has some industry professionals worried about game sales moving towards a “Spotify-model.” A model that has been heavily criticized in the past.

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“ We’re just so on the cusp of a crash, and I feel like barely anyone realizes it.

via @MaxKriegerVG

Google Play Pass is a subscription service where for $4.99 a month, subscribers can have access to a library of games and apps without ads and in-app purchases. This subscription service is similar to the ones offered by Apple and Xbox. However, there is language in the Google Play Pass developer FAQ that caused some alarm in the game development community.According to Google , “Developers earn a royalty that incorporates time subscribers spend in their app and captures how users value all types of content (from weather apps to epic endless runners).” Google says that this royalty model isn’t set in stone and that it is “continuously refining the model to make sure it fairly rewards titles that bring the highest user value.” But game developers say this resembles the way streaming services like Spotify pay its artists.Musicians and industry members have criticized Spotify’s royalty plan in the past for paying artists based on aggregate song plays. The Ringer explained how this revenue model incentivizes musicians on Spotify to create more streamable experiences.“In the pay-per-stream model, artists are motivated to accrue spins, rather than devoted fans, by any means necessary. A catchy three-minute earworm that begs to be played ad nauseam generates more revenue than a longer, less repeatable track, even if the same number of people listen to each song every month.”The main criticism with this royalty model is that it seemingly rewards artists and developers for creating games that can hold onto a person’s interest longer than its competitors. This gives games with an emphasis on replayability an advantage over shorter game experiences. Google Play Pass’s model also differs from video game subscription services like the Xbox Game Pass which, according to Niko Partners senior analyst Daniel Ahmad, pays developers upfront for their games plus royalties.“Think about it like this: if it took you three hours to beat the Untitled Goose Game, that probably would have translated into a payment of a few nickels rather than the $20 or so you paid for it,” indie game developer Will O’Neil says in a Tweet. “Indie game developers are not indie musicians. We don’t tour. We can’t flip out singles quickly to take a blind shot at some godlike curator at a streaming service. Nobody likes photos of us. This is not a future that finds a new equilibrium.Ismail says that this kind of model can set a bad precedent for game development. "If developers get paid for engagement, the only model that makes sense is to maximize the time people spend in the game or the number of times people have to check the game, artificially if necessary," says Ismail. "It’s upsetting.”No More Robots publisher Mike Rose shared similar concerns with IGN. “I knew this was going to happen because even back then, I’d already been approached by multiple platforms all saying they would pay per how many hours your game was played, versus every other game on their platform,” says Rose.“Give it another couple of years, and we’re going to be drowning in these services and it’s going to force developers to build games with ‘how do I make money?’ in mind. Short narrative games will be forced out, we’ll be drowned in a sea of Fortnites and pachinko machines,” says Rose. “I know I must bore a whole lot of people with this stuff but god, we’re just so on the cusp of a crash, and I feel like barely anyone realizes it.”Other developers have expressed similar concerns on Twitter. Indie game developer @Vectorpoem tweeted Indie developer Max Krieger also Tweeted Jay Powell, CEO of video game consulting firm The Powell Group tweeted With so many different services from companies like Google, Twitch, and Apple offering full libraries for a monthly fee, it’ll be important to see how compensation across the different platforms work. It should be noted that it’s currently unclear how Apple Arcade compensates developers who sign on to be featured in Apple Arcade, either.IGN has reached out to Google to ask for comment regarding developer concerns, but have not heard back in time to publish this story.

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Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN. You can reach him on Twitter