Epic Games has scored a major victory in its ongoing legal battle against Google, which a US judge has ruled has an illegal monopoly through its smartphone app store.
Google (which is appealing the ruling) has been ordered to make third-party storefront apps, such as the Epic Games Store, available through the US Google Play Store next year.
For at least the next three years, Google will also be forced to allow users to pay through other means than just Google Play Billing, and Google will receive 30% of those payments.
In a statement following the ruling, Google said it pushed back against the ruling and asked for a pause on changes needed “to maintain a consistent and secure experience for our users and developers.”
Google argues that the verdict should be reconsidered because it appears to contradict Epic’s less successful Apple court ruling, and that Epic is competing with Apple and therefore has no exclusive rights. He claimed he didn’t have it.
“Epic’s ruling missed the obvious,” Google spokeswoman Leanne Mulholland wrote. “Apple and Android are clearly competing.”
Meanwhile, Epic Games boss Tim Sweeney made a clever pun:
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Google pointed out that Android is even more “open” than iOS because it allows sideloading and users can now download the Epic Games Store.
This is true, of course, but Epic Games’ struggle here was to streamline the process of accessing the Epic Games Store. Currently, this requires a cumbersome process where users are presented with various “scary screens” designed to keep them away.
In fact, Epic Games has already filed new lawsuits against both Google and former partner Samsung for preemptively making the process of downloading the Epic Game Store on Android phones harder.
