What you need to know
- Epic won an antitrust case against Google in a shocking jury verdict late last year, and now both Google and Epic have a chance to tell the courts how they want to proceed.
- Unsurprisingly, Epic announced a comprehensive list of demands that would break the Google Play Store.
- Now Google has countered with a statement and is not satisfied with Epic’s suggestions.
Epic has been striving for years to avoid paying fees on mobile platforms and to gain full rights to offer alternative payment methods for in-app purchases. Although the company largely lost its lawsuit against Apple, the opposite happened in the case against Google. In an unexpected jury verdict in December 2023, Google was found to have a monopoly on app distribution on Android. So what’s next?
Although Epic won its case, the situation is far from over. First, Epic had to tell the court what a solution should look like. Then Google had the opportunity to respond with its own filing by May 2, and the company did so last week. A hearing is scheduled later this month for May 23 where both sides will present their arguments before a judge with expert testimony. A final decision from the court will certainly come later.
Google still plans to appeal the original ruling, but its latest court filing tells us what it thinks of Epic’s demands. In a statement to TechCrunch, Wilson White, Google’s vice president of government affairs and public policy, called Epic’s requests “unnecessary” and “far beyond the scope of the recent ruling in the US trial.”
Although Epic won the case, the court’s opinion on the injunctions filed by Epic and Google will determine what the game developer will do Strictly speaking won. The positions taken by both companies are entirely to be expected, and it is doubtful that Epic and Google believe the courts will fully side with them. What will likely happen is that Presiding Judge James Donato of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California will find a middle ground between the two companies.
What Epic asked for and why it makes sense
The changes Epic wants to see in the Google Play Store are sweeping and would create a completely different environment than the one we see today. It may be easy to laugh at Epic’s proposed workaround, but it makes perfect sense. In a negotiation you always ask for more than you expect to get. This way, when you make concessions, you end up with more than you would have if you started with what might be considered more reasonable and fair.
Of course, Epic could end up getting everything it asked for. After all, few experts and analysts expected that Epic would even win against Google. If you’re at the helm of Epic, why not try everything you can and see what comes of it?
A general overview of what Epic is demanding is complete parity between the experience of downloading apps through the first-party Google Play Store, third-party app marketplaces, and sideloading. There are 16 pages of demands, but it all boils down to this central point.
Epic wants Google to remove Android warnings that discourage users from downloading apps from alternative sources and end exclusive contracts with developers. It also aims to prevent Google from offering exclusive features that other developers cannot offer, such as integration with Google products and services.
Google’s rebuttal is not wrong either
We also can’t blame Google for countering with its alternative view, which seems to be slightly fairer than Epic’s, although that’s all up to interpretation.
“Epic’s demands would harm the privacy, security and overall experience of consumers, developers and device manufacturers,” White said in a statement on behalf of Google.
“Not only does your proposal go well beyond the scope of the recent US court ruling – which we will appeal – it is also unnecessary based on the agreement we reached last year with the attorneys general of all states and several territories,” he continued .
“We will continue to vigorously defend our right to a sustainable business model that allows us to keep people safe, work with developers to innovate and grow their businesses, and maintain a thriving Android ecosystem for everyone.”
Google tells the court in its filing that Epic’s proposed changes, particularly regarding third-party app stores, would limit its ability to protect user privacy and security. Additionally, it says Epic’s requests would involve telling third-party app marketplaces the list of apps users have already installed, potentially putting users in a compromising position. This could have devastating consequences for users, as governments in the US already use the apps users install to investigate or prosecute them.
Finally, Google argues that some of Epic’s claims are unnecessary because of the company’s previous settlement in a case with some U.S. state attorneys general. This agreement eliminates large exclusivity agreements in the Google Play Store, but still gives Google the ability to enter into smaller exclusivity agreements within apps. According to Google, asking Epic to scrap exclusivity deals entirely would limit options for developers.
What does a final decision look like?
Epic and Google are clearly at odds, and that’s to be expected. After a review process, Judge Donato will likely issue a final ruling that deviates from both companies’ proposed injunctions. We don’t know what that might look like right now, but we might get a better idea after the hearing on May 23, where both sides will present their arguments.
We know that no matter the outcome, Epic will continue to advance alternative app marketplaces for Android. The Epic Games Store will be available for Android later this year, regardless of the ruling in this case. However, if the court sides more with Epic than Google, the Epic Games Store could have a better chance of competing with the Google Play Store.