Epic wins its antitrust lawsuit against the Play Store

Three years after Fortnite-maker Epic Games sued Apple and Google for allegedly running illegal app store monopolies, Epic has a win. The jury in Epic v. Google has just delivered its verdict — and it found that Google turned its Google Play app store and Google Play Billing service into an illegal monopoly.

Google and Apple take percentages of all financial transactions at their app shops, prompting complaints by developers about an unfair “tax” imposed by the companies.The defeat is a rare setback for a US tech giant in a US court, where judges have recently ruled in favour of big tech against accusations of running illegal monopolies or abusing their market power.

“Victory over Google! After four weeks of detailed court testimony, the California jury found against the Google Play monopoly on all counts,” Epic CEO Tim Sweeney said on X (formerly Twitter).

Google affairs and public policy VP Wilson White said the company plans to appeal the verdict and that “the trial made clear that we compete fiercely with Apple and its App Store, as well as app stores on Android devices and gaming consoles.”

Google sought to avoid having a jury trial, only to have its request rejected by U.S. District Judge James Donato. Now, Donato will determine what steps Google will have to take to unwind its illegal behavior in the Play Store. The judge indicated he will hold hearings on the issue during the second week of January.

Google said it will appeal the decision. But Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter says the search giant faces an “uphill battle.” While remedies Google must enact haven’t yet been decided, Pachter said he believes that its rivals will focus on the fee the company charges developers in its store. In the Apple case, the judge barred the company from implementing “anti-steering provisions,” Pachter said, that is, preventing developers from steering people toward third-party payment stores outside of Apple’s own app store. While Apple’s fees within its own store remain largely unchallenged, he added, “the anti-steering prohibition has led to a slow creep of traffic toward direct-to-consumer transactions.” Apple is still appealing the decision.

“We expect Apple to ultimately lose its appeal,” Pachter said in a research note. “Google’s loss, however, allows for DIRECT store competition within its Android platform, and we believe that it is likely to result in lower platform fees over the next several years.”

In a post on its company blog, Epic Games said, “Today’s verdict is a win for all app developers and consumers around the world. It proves that Google’s app store practices are illegal and they abuse their monopoly to extract exorbitant fees, stifle competition and reduce innovation.”

Although Epic didn’t sue for damages, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney suggested Epic stood to make hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars if it doesn’t have to pay Google’s fee.