The Epic v. Google verdict has arrived, and the Fortnite developer has secured a win in the antitrust case related to the Play Store. Along with complaints surrounding the 30 percent cut Google’s Play Store takes from app developers, Epic accused Google of intentionally limiting competition in its Android app store.
A jury found that Google utilized its monopoly over the Play Store to injure the developer, agreeing with Epic’s claim that the Play Store operates as an illegal monopoly. At this time, it’s unclear what the win means for Google in the short-term, but it sets a legal precedent surrounding potential app store monopolies that could affect Apple’s App Store and Epic’s ongoing legal efforts against the Cupertino, California-based tech giant.
Victory over Google! After 4 weeks of detailed court testimony, the California jury found against the Google Play monopoly on all counts. The Court’s work on remedies will start in January. Thanks for everyone’s support and faith! Free Fortnite! https://t.co/ITm4YBHCus
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) December 12, 2023
The court will begin deciding in January what changes Google must implement to the Play Store to remedy the situation.
“We will continue to defend the Android business model and remain deeply committed to our users, partners, and the broader Android ecosystem,” said Wilson White, vice president of government affairs and public policy at Google, in a statement to several publications.
In a recent blog post, Epic described the verdict as “a win for all developers.”
“Over the course of the trial we saw evidence that Google was willing to pay billions of dollars to stifle alternative app stores by paying developers to abandon their own store efforts and direct distribution plans, and offering highly lucrative agreements with device manufacturers in exchange for excluding competing app store,” wrote Google in the blog post.
Source: Epic, @TimSweeneyEpic, Reuters
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