Epic Games, the developer of Fortnite, has walked away with a win in its case against Google.
A California jury has found Google’s Play Store to violate antitrust policies. Epic has fought with its claims that Google’s 30 percent marketplace cut is unfair and that its policies gate off competition. The jury has deemed Google of running a monopoly on the Play Store. As of January, the court will begin to seek “remedies” to address the antitrust concerns.
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
Of course, there’s no way of knowing how the Play Store will be impacted in the future. Google hosts the largest mobile marketplace alongside Apple’s App Store, which runs on similar policies and has its own 30 percent fees. It’ll ultimately be up to Judge James Donato to decide the proper measures Google must uphold moving forward. Both parties are to meet with Judge Donato in January to discuss potential remedies.
With that said, Google is reported to be appealing the decision. In a report from Reuters, Wilson White, vice president of government affairs and public policy at Google says, “We will continue to defend the Android business model and remain deeply committed to our users, partners, and the broader Android ecosystem.”
For the past month, Epic Games has battled with Google in court. Epic has alleged Google had been illegally running its Play Store as a monopoly. The Fortnite developer has repeatedly cited the requirements of using the Play Store and Google’s billing services as unfair. Both are required in many cases for developers to have their apps on the marketplace. It’s all come to a head now that Epic Games has been dealt a victory by the jury.
Epic Games has not sued Google for any monetary damages. However, the company could stand to make hundreds of millions to potentially billions by circumventing Google’s Play Store billing.
