The popular game developer Epic Games, known for “Fortnite,” is taking on Google in a closely watched antitrust lawsuit that could change how smartphone users download Android apps and pay for in-app content. The lawsuit is being filed in federal court today.
The Google Play Store is the target of Epic’s lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. The lawsuit focuses on Google’s fees for in-app purchases and subscriptions, as well as other terms that Epic and other app developers claim enable Google to maintain an illegal monopoly in the app distribution market.
The dispute over whether or not owners of app stores, like Google and Apple, promote a free-flowing, open app market has lasted for years. The two companies contend that their app stores enable small businesses to generate billions of dollars in revenue while guaranteeing that users of Android and iOS benefit from the security oversight offered by the industry leaders in technology.
Prominent figures from both sides, such as Tim Sweeney, the CEO of Epic, and Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google, could testify before the jury.
Prominent figures from both sides, such as Tim Sweeney, the CEO of Epic, and Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google, could testify before the jury.
The legal battle began in 2020 when Epic introduced Project Liberty, a scheme to get around Google’s and Apple’s app store policies. Epic’s action prompted a dispute with the major tech companies.
In order to encourage users to pay for in-app content directly through Epic’s website as opposed to using Apple and Google’s in-app payment systems, Epic updated the Fortnite app. A breach of the developer terms of the app stores was caused by that gambit.
Additionally, the action forced the Fortnite app to be removed from both app stores’ platforms. This meant that iOS users of Apple products could no longer play Fortnite. The Supreme Court might examine Epic’s case against Apple in the near future. On Android devices, Fortnite is still accessible via a number of non-Google channels.
Meanwhile, Sweeney claims that Google violates US antitrust law by “controlling, surveils, and taxes transactions between users and developers.”
Google claims that Epic only wants free access to the Play Store’s 2.5 billion global users, and that if Epic wins, Google’s chances of providing a competitive Android alternative to Apple’s iOS will be harmed.
Numerous state attorneys general, private citizens, and Match Group—the massive online dating company that owns apps like Tinder, Hinge, and Match—were among the many plaintiffs in the original lawsuit against Google. But as it reached several settlements eliminating other plaintiffs from the case, Google was able to successfully reduce the number of adversaries it would have to contend with at trial.
Epic and Google will now go it alone in court.
Source: Cosmo Politian
