The lawsuit filed by Epic Games in the US District Court for the Northern District of California in 2020 accused Google of taking actions to suppress competitors and charge excessive payments of up to 30% to app developers
Epic Games prevails in an antitrust trial against Google over allegations concerning Play Store. (Credit: Sergey Galyonkin from Berlin, Germany/Wikipedia.org)
US-based video games developer Epic Games has received a favourable verdict in an antitrust trial against Alphabet’s Google in which it alleged that Google Play Store operated as an illegal monopoly.
Following a month-long trial in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, jurors sided with Epic Games on all aspects, reported Reuters, citing a court filing.
Epic Games’ lawsuit accused Google of taking actions to suppress competitors and charge excessive payments of up to 30% to app developers. The court is set to address potential remedies in January 2024.
The company also claimed that Google executives admitted in court that their offer to developers of a 26% rate on third party payment options is a fake option.
Epic Games stated: “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.
“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 offering highly lucrative agreements with device manufacturers in exchange for excluding competing app stores.”
The Fortnite game maker filed a lawsuit against Google in 2020 after a dispute over in-app purchase fees.
Google government affairs and public policy vice president Wilson White, in an emailed statement, told Reuters: “We will continue to defend the Android business model and remain deeply committed to our users, partners, and the broader Android ecosystem.”
Last year, Epic Games raised $2bn from its existing investor Sony Group and KIRKBI in a funding round to advance the company’s goal to develop the metaverse. The financing round took the company’s valuation to $31.5bn.