An important decision was made in the Epic Games and Google case in the USA. Judge James Donato ruled that Google Play, the application store on Google’s Android platform, will be open to rival stores for three years. This decision will shake Google’s current monopoly structure in digital application distribution and bring a new competitive dynamic to the Android ecosystem. According to the decision, Google will have to host third-party application stores within its own platform, and these stores will be provided with access to applications on Google Play. However, these applications can only be removed from this catalog if individual developers do not want them to.
This regulation places significant restrictions on Google’s dominance in the app store market. These new rules for Google’s app store will come into force on November 1, 2024 and will be valid until November 1, 2027. During this period, Google will not be able to impose the Google Pay payment system on application developers and will allow developers to announce alternative payment methods to their users. Additionally, developers will be able to provide links to how their applications can be downloaded from stores other than Google Play. Application pricing will also be left to developers, and the obligation to depend on Google’s payment system, Play Billing, will be eliminated.
These decisions will affect not only applications on Google Play, but also the overall competitive environment on the Android platform. Although Google still has certain powers to ensure the security of app stores in this process, these powers will be limited to only necessary and limited measures. Additionally, Google may charge third-party stores for these security measures.
Google’s anti-competitive behavior is being put to an end
With the decision, Google will also face restrictions in some of its business agreements with application developers. It will no longer be able to offer incentives to developers to publish their apps exclusively on Google Play, and it will no longer be able to give money or other incentives to prevent developers from listing on rival stores. Likewise, financial advantages will not be provided to device manufacturers or operators for pre-installing Google Play, nor will incentives be given for not pre-installing competing stores. These regulations aim to limit Google’s monopolization of the app store and create a fair competitive environment in the Android ecosystem.
The court decision was made as a result of a large-scale lawsuit filed by Epic Games against Google. Epic Games filed similar lawsuits against both Google and Apple in 2020, questioning the monopolistic structure of both technology giants in their application stores. Epic’s claims included accusations that Google’s special agreements with game developers prevented fair competition and made it difficult for application developers to use different payment systems. The court accepted these allegations and found Google’s anti-competitive practices illegal.
During the lawsuit, Google presented arguments to the court that fulfilling the demands would be difficult, costly and would take a long time, but Judge Donato did not accept these defenses. The court ruled that Google should open up to third-party stores and give app developers more freedom.
Google announced that it would appeal the decision. However, in this process, the court does not pressure Google to implement the decisions immediately. It is predicted that Google will appeal to the appeals court to postpone this decision and will try to delay the changes, as Apple did in a similar case. Despite this, it is evaluated that the decision will create a great wave of change in the Android ecosystem and competition will increase even more in the long term.
Additionally, the court will also consider a new lawsuit Epic Games filed against Google and Samsung last week. This new lawsuit includes accusations that Google and Samsung have created extra hurdles to make it harder for third-party stores to integrate.