Google gets an Epic slap in app battle

App stores have been a mixed blessing, but does the Epic Games judgement signal the beginning of their end, asks Jason Walsh

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Photo by: Brett Jordan

Having failed in its case against Apple, Epic Games has now, surprisingly, triumphed against Google. The developer of the popular video game Fortnite triumphed in a jury trial in the US, arguing that Google’s control of the Play app store meant it operated an illegal monopoly.

Epic Games succeeded in arguing that by tying together app distribution via the Play store with billing, on which it charges a 30% commission, Google “willfully acquired or maintained monopoly power by engaging in anti-competitive conduct”.

Posting on social network X (formerly Twitter), Epic Games’s chief executive Tim Sweeney hailed the verdict, saying: “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!”.

The ruling is particularly stunning in light of the fact that in 2021 Epic Games lost a similar suit against Apple, which exercises even tighter control over its mobile platform than does Google.

Interestingly, as reported in The Verge, a juror has explained the decision was, at least in part, due to the fact that Google staff deleted chats, as this cast doubt on the company’s good faith.

When taken together with the 2021 Apple verdict, the Google judgement cannot quite be read as the courts calling time on app stores, but it is certainly the case that authorities are increasingly concerned about technology companies’ penchant for monopolistic business practices.

App stores are a particularly interesting case. On the one hand, they have been essential to the adoption of smartphones: the prospect of a fragmented software landscape with applications downloaded from all over the web is not only a security nightmare, it would also be a problem for developers and publishers as app discovery would be significantly hampered.

Against that, so-called ‘walled gardens’ as Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play are known are obviously bad for consumers, restricting not only choice but, ultimately, control and therefore ownership of the devices they use. (Notably, unlike Apple, Google does allow alternative app stores and repositories, as well as so-called ‘side-loading’ of individual applications).

The question now is: what does Epic Games triumphing in court mean for app stores?  While the judgement will certainly sting Google, it does not represent a death blow to app stores in general. Not only was Google’s handling of evidence a factor (courts rarely respond well to document destruction), but the jury decided that the question of the monopoly related to app distribution and billing on Android specifically, not the more nebulous question of digital distribution in general.

The tech giants’ control over users clearly is beginning to slip, however. South Korea made allowing alternative payment methods mandatory in 2021, something even Apple has grudgingly agreed to. In the EU, meanwhile, the designation of both Apple and Google’s app stores as “gatekeepers” under the Digital Markets Act indicates that politicians have them firmly in their sights. It’s about time.

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