Who Owns the Chargeback? What Game Studios Need to Know in 2026

TL;DR

• Google Play is making developers pay for chargebacks starting later in 2026.
• A $5 dispute can end up costing you $25–30 under most payment providers.
• The real question isn't how to handle Google's policy - it's who's holding the risk.
• With most Merchants of Record, you still take a financial hit for every chargeback fee.
• Tebex covers 100% of chargeback costs. Studios keep everything they've earned.

Google just moved the risk onto you

For years, Google handled the messy side of payments on your behalf. Disputes, fraud, chargeback liability - that was largely Google's problem, not yours.

That's changing later in 2026.

Google Play will start holding developers responsible for disputed purchases and the fees that come with them. They're also launching a Review Refund API so developers can submit evidence when contesting a dispute.

While the API functions well, it overlooks a more significant shift. Google is restructuring its model to shift payment risk away from themselves and onto the developer.

What a single chargeback actually costs you

Here's how it plays out with most payment providers today:

A player disputes a $5 purchase. The moment that dispute opens, you're charged a chargeback fee - typically $15-20. You haven't done anything yet. You're just down $15 on a $5 sale.

Your provider then submits a defense. If they win, great. If they lose, they come back to you for the original $5 on top of the fee.

Your $5 sale is now a $25-30 loss.

That's the industry standard. Google's policy change doesn't create this problem - it just makes it much more expensive to ignore.

Why game chargebacks are harder to fight

Google's new API asks studios to submit better evidence: delivery logs, transaction records, consumption data.

That's not bad advice. But it understates the challenge.

In a live-service game, things move fast. A player buys a skin - it's used immediately. They play across three devices. Their subscription renews through a different payment method every month. Other players gifted them items. Someone bought it for a friend.

By the time a dispute arrives, reconstructing exactly what happened isn't a quick task. It's an operations function. Studios that don't have that infrastructure built will spend more time and money on disputes than they save from any other optimization.

The API gives you a place to submit evidence. It doesn't build the system that collects it.

There are two primary ways to handle payments

When a chargeback lands, one question determines everything: who is the legal merchant?

• With a standard processor (like Stripe) or a gateway you manage: You are the legal merchant. You build the case, you meet the deadline, and you cover the loss.
• With a Merchant of Record (MoR): The MoR is the legal merchant and handles all incoming disputes. However, most standard MoRs still pass the financial hit back to you through chargeback fees.

How Tebex handles it

Tebex, as your Merchant of Record, offers 100% chargeback liability protection.

When a chargeback arrives, it lands with Tebex - not with you. Tebex covers the chargeback fee, builds and submits the defense, and if the defense fails, covers the refund to the player.

You keep your revenue. You pay nothing.

This isn't a special tier or an enterprise add-on. It's how Tebex works for all partners, at every volume.

The logic is simple: if Tebex accepts the payment and runs the defense, Tebex should carry the outcome. Not you.

Two things to do before the policy lands

• Ask your current payment provider directly - who owns the chargeback when it arrives, and what do you pay if the defense fails? A lot of studios assume their provider covers this. This is incorrect in the majority of cases. 
• Decide whether your payment setup is built for a world where platforms keep moving risk onto developers. Google won't be the last to do this.

Google is the first, not the last

The 2026 policy change is a signal. Platforms are pulling back from payment risk, and developers are picking it up.

The studios that handle this well will be the ones who asked the right question early: not "how do we fight more chargebacks?" but "who's carrying the risk in the first place?"

Get that answer now - before the first disputed charge lands on your books.

Frequently asked questions

What is Google Play's 2026 chargeback policy change? 

Starting later in 2026, Google Play will hold developers responsible for disputed purchase amounts plus chargeback fees. Until now, Google absorbed most of this risk. The change means a disputed $5 purchase can cost a studio $25-30 once fees and a failed defense are factored in. Google is also adding a Review Refund API so developers can submit transaction evidence - but the financial liability still falls on the developer if the dispute is lost.

What is a Merchant of Record? 

A Merchant of Record is the legal entity responsible for processing a payment. In practice, it's whoever owns the chargeback. If you're running your own payment gateway, that's you. If a platform like Tebex is the Merchant of Record, the liability sits with them - they manage the dispute and cover the cost if it's lost. For studios worried about chargebacks, this is the most important thing to check about any payment provider.

How does Tebex protect studios from chargeback losses? 

Tebex acts as Merchant of Record for all partners, so chargebacks land with Tebex, not the studio. Tebex covers the dispute fee, manages the defense, and absorbs the refund if the defense fails. Studios keep everything they earned on the original transaction. There's no minimum volume to qualify - this is standard for all Tebex partners.

Does the Google Review Refund API fix the chargeback problem? 

Partly. It gives developers a way to submit evidence when contesting a dispute, which is useful. But it doesn't change who pays when a dispute is lost - that's still the developer. And building the systems to collect and organise that evidence across a live-service game with subscriptions, virtual goods, and multi-device play is a significant operational challenge that the API doesn't solve.

What should studios ask their payment provider right now? 

Ask one question: "Who owns the chargeback when it arrives, and what happens if the defense fails?" Then ask what fees apply when a dispute opens. The answers will tell you quickly whether your current provider is absorbing this risk or passing it back to you.