Google Lost in Court to Epic Games. Now It Must Open Google Play to Other Stores
The Google Play store has to open for 3 years to give competing platforms a chance to take the fight to it on Android devices.
The accusations of creating a "regulatory regime" were to no avail and the court forced the changes after finding the current status of the Google Play store to be an illegal monopoly. Thus, the Epic Games' battle with "non-competitive" mobile distribution platforms has come to an end (via The Verge).
Google is embarrassed
James Donato, a judge of the United States Federal Court for Northern California, effectively ordered what Epic Games has been demanding for years: opening Android to other stores. The owners of these are to gain access to the entire Google Play catalog, and Google must enable distribution on these platforms within its store.
Moreover, the verdict obliges the tech giant to comply with the following provisions:
- abolishing the requirement to link distributed applications to the Google Billing payment system and allowing developers to set prices independently;
- allowing developers to add links to Google Play that enable downloading applications outside the store and informing users about payment options outside of it;
- prohibition of offering entities financial benefits in exchange for pre-installation and temporary exclusivity of applications for Google Play or not releasing / not pre-installing programs on competing platforms.
"Just" leveling the playing field, also for Amazon
What is important, however, is that the opening of Google Play will only be valid for 3 years: from November 1, 2024 to November 1, 2027. Epic Games demanded that it last 6 years, and also wanted the .api files to stop being associated with Google Play.
Donato argues that the purpose of these commands and prohibitions is to equalize opportunities, i.e. enabling other platforms to build their position, so they have a real chance to compete with Google Play. The judge indicates that even such a "behemoth" as Amazon - another giant of the technology market - was unable to compete with Google (which was also demonstrated by the external presentation of the latter company).
So, Donato didn't actually want to hinder Google for too long - only for the time necessary for other platforms to get a real "chance to start", i.e. giving them a fighting chance against Google Play.
Google warns, Epic Games celebrates
Google disgarees with the verdict. In a new article, Lee-Anne Mulholland, Vice President of Google and head of the company's Regulatory Affairs organization announced that the company will appeal because enforcing its provisions would have “unintended consequences that will harm American consumers.” The California giant points to the "oversight" by the court of competition from Apple and the already existing "openness" of Android.
It will also come as no surprise to anyone that the CEO of Epic Games is celebrating a “victory” in this matter. Tim Sweeney expressed this on X, although he noted that the ruling only covers the US. So the company plans to continue the legal battle to have similar provisions adopted worldwide.
Let us recall that in August, Epic Games managed to bring Fortnite back to mobile devices, although it cost Sweeney's company a lot.
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Author: Jacob Blazewicz
Graduated with a master's degree in Polish Studies from the University of Warsaw with a thesis dedicated to this very subject. Started his adventure with gamepressure.com in 2015, writing in the Newsroom and later also in the film and technology sections (also contributed to the Encyclopedia). Interested in video games (and not only video games) for years. He began with platform games and, to this day, remains a big fan of them (including Metroidvania). Also shows interest in card games (including paper), fighting games, soulslikes, and basically everything about games as such. Marvels at pixelated characters from games dating back to the time of the Game Boy (if not older).
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