Following a jury ruling in favour of ‘Fortnite’ maker Epic Games, a US judge ordered significant modifications to Alphabet Google Play Store. The court judgement mandates Google to give Android users more options to download apps and to pay for transactions within them.
The injunction, ordered by US District Judge James Donato in San Francisco, requires Google to revamp its mobile app business by allowing users to download apps and conduct in-app transactions through third-party platforms, bypassing Google's existing Play Store restrictions. Google must also stop paying device manufacturers to pre-install the Play Store and split the money from its app store with other distributors.
This verdict follows a 2020 lawsuit in which Epic Games accused Google of monopolising app access and restricting competition. In December 2023, a jury deemed Google's activities anti-competitive, paving the way for Donato's intervention.
Google indicated that it would appeal the decision to the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, claiming that the changes could hurt users, developers and device manufacturers by posing privacy and security issues. The digital behemoth is also attempting to halt Donato's injunction, which is slated to take effect on 1 November, 2024, while the appeal is pending.
"While these changes presumably satisfy Epic, they will cause a range of unintended consequences that will harm American consumers, developers and device makers," as per a statement from Google.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney praised the ruling on social media, calling it ‘big news.’ He anticipated that by 2025, new app shops, including Epic's, would be available for Android devices. Sweeney also encouraged developers and app store owners to use the opportunity to build a thriving and competitive Android ecosystem within the next three years, before Google's reforms become fully established.
The verdict mandates Epic and Google to form a three-person technical committee to monitor the implementation of the new standards and ensure Google's compliance with the court order.
The legal dispute began in 2020, when Epic Games sued Google, charging the company of unlawfully limiting app distribution and in-app payments on Android. Epic sought revisions that would allow developers to avoid the Play Store's fees and rules, which they claimed limited competition. Donato's decision substantially endorses Epic's claims, dismissing Google's counter-arguments about costs, security and privacy as secondary to addressing monopolistic behaviour.
The decision adds to Google's continuing legal issues. In a second antitrust action in Washington, US District Judge Amit Mehta decided in August that Google had unlawfully monopolised web search. Meanwhile, in September, Google faced a federal trial in Virginia for its dominance in the ad tech industry. In each of these incidents, the firm denied any misconduct. Alphabet's stock slid 2.5 per cent on Monday after the court verdict, closing at USD 164.39.
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