Google Loses Appeal in Epic Games Case, Must Open Play Store

In the lengthy legal dispute with the game group Epic Games, Google has suffered a significant setback. The decision of a federal judge remains that Google has to open its Play Store for Android much more to third parties.

Judgment confirmed

A US Court of Appeal in San Francisco unanimously rejected Google’s appeal against an earlier judgment on Thursday, reports the news agency Reuters. The background to the procedure is a lawsuit by Epic Games from 2020. The company, known for the Fortnite game, accuses Google to take advantage of its dominant position in the app sales system of Android devices and thus suppress the competition.

A jury had given the right to Epic in December 2023 – a judgment that was now confirmed by the appellate body. Judge M. Margaret Mckeown wrote in the decision that the evidence of Google’s competitive behavior was “overwhelming”. Together with her colleagues Danielle Forrest and Gabriel Sanchez, she made it clear that Google’s procedure had cemented an unfair market structure.

Federal judge James Donato already obliged Google in October 2023 to make profound changes. In the future, it should be possible to download competing app stores directly from the Play Store and make the app catalog accessible to third-party providers. This arrangement has so far been suspended – now it can be implemented if Google has not successfully pulled the entire Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court.

Google is sour

Google reacted with sharp criticism of the decision. Lee-Anne Mulholland, Vice President of regulatory matters, warned of negative consequences for the security and innovative strength of the Android ecosystem. One wanted to continue the legal discussion. Epic boss Tim Sweeney, on the other hand, welcomed the decision and announced that the Epic Games Store will also be available via the Google Play Store in the future.

Epic receives support in the procedure, among others, from Microsoft and the US authorities for competitive supervision – the Ministry of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission. At the same time, Epic leads a similar legal dispute with Apple, which also deals with the market rules for app developers.