Epic Games, the developer of the popular video game Fortnite and creator of Unreal Engine, has won against Google in the Epic v. Google legal battle over Epic’s allegations that Google maintains an illegal monopoly over its app store.
As reported by The Verge, the jury in San Francisco found that Google has indeed established a monopoly with its Play Store and Google Play Billing Service. The jury also found that Google’s anticompetitive monopoly was used to harm Epic.
Epic, in its company blog, posted, “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 that they abuse their monopoly to extract exorbitant fees, stifle competition, and reduce innovation.”
It added: “Over the course of the trial, we saw evidence that Google was willing to pay billions of dollars to stifle alternative app stores by paying developers to abandon their own store efforts and direct distribution plans, and by offering highly lucrative agreements with device manufacturers in exchange for excluding competing app stores.”
It is worth noting that Epic lost a similar case against Apple about two years ago. Despite a series of online campaigns, including the popular ‘Free Fortnite’ campaign against Apple to garner more support, all efforts failed to materialize.
However, it isn’t clear what this development would mean in the long term for Epic, as it’s still to be decided what the solution would be, The Verge reports. But one thing remains clear: Epic isn’t seeking monetary compensation but wants a revamped App Store system. More should be revealed when Judge James Donato gives a ruling.
Meanwhile, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney was also quick to post on X, celebrating the victory. “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!” he said.
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