“Today’s verdict is a win for all app developers and consumers around the world,” Epic Games wrote in a statement about the verdict.
In their defense, Apple and Google generally point to concerns around security to justify their shared desire to steer app users toward a central software authority. Epic’s war against Apple and Google centers around its hit game Fortnite, which is free to play and available on nearly every software platform imaginable, current App Store and Google Play drama notwithstanding.Įpic argues that both tech giants violate antitrust laws by forcing app users to make payments through their own systems and taking a significant cut of in-app revenues in the process.
The lawsuit against Google was just one piece of Epic’s flashy effort to rally app developers large and small against mobile software’s entrenched gatekeepers. Epic, creator of the popular online multiplayer game Fortnite, first filed its lawsuit against Google in 2020 alleging that the tech giant’s app store practices violated federal and California state antitrust laws.
The unanimous verdict wraps up a three-year-long legal battle between the companies. On Monday, a jury sided with Epic Games over Google in an antitrust case that could reshape how app marketplaces like Google Play are allowed to operate.
