Estimated read time: 3 minutes, 50 seconds
After Google was warned in August by U.S. District Judge James Donato that the court is “going to tear the barriers down,” the judge’s injunction was issued on Monday, Oct. 7 detailing what exactly that would mean for Google.
The company must make several changes regarding its Play Store for Android apps according to AP News, after a jury found in Dec. 2023 that Google Play and Google Play Billing represent an illegal monopoly run by Google. This ruling was part of a case led by Epic Games in an antitrust lawsuit against Google, originally brought by 37 Attorneys General.
Note: FastSpring provided support regarding alternative payment methods in the case. Read our December 2023 press release here.
AP News continues that among the many provisions in Judge Donato’s ruling, for a period of three years starting Nov. 1 of this year, Google “won’t be able to require apps to use its billing system or tell customers that they can download apps elsewhere and potentially for cheaper.” The changes are intended to break down the commission system Google had built to wall off competition in the Android app market.
The Verge also reports that some of the changes — including that Google must “distribute rival third-party app stores within Google Play, and it must give rival third-party app stores access to the full catalog of Google Play apps, unless developers opt out individually” — were some of the biggest changes Epic wanted from the case.
The Verge continues that Google must allow Android developers to inform app users about other ways to pay from within the Play Store and allow developers to link to other ways to download the apps, and Google must stop requiring Google Play Billing even if the apps are distributed via the Play Store. The company also has a long list of ways it cannot incentivize exclusivity or early access to apps to other developers, device manufacturers, and various other entities.
The “Epic v Google injunction” and the “Epic v Google order and relief” are available in The Verge’s article via Vox.com.
Google posted the same day on its blog that it will be appealing the verdict as well as asking the courts to pause the implementation of the remedies. AP News notes that Google had insisted it would need 12 to 16 months to design necessary safeguards against malicious software, but that the judge gave the company until Nov. 1, 2024 to implement his orders.
Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney reposted the article from The Verge to his X.com account, stating, “Big news! The Epic Games Store and other app stores are coming to the Google Play Store in 2025 in the USA – without Google’s scare screens and Google’s 30% app tax – thanks to victory in Epic v Google.”
About FastSpring
FastSpring is how gaming studios sell in more places around the world. For nearly two decades, FastSpring has been a payment provider you can use to sell games or in-game items on your website, web shop, or embedded directly into your game with fully customizable and branded checkouts just for you. FastSpring allows you to offload the complexity of global payments, sales tax and VAT compliance, player payments support, and many other aspects of payments management. Spend less time managing your payments and compliance and more time making great games!To learn more about how FastSpring supports game developers, visit fastspring.gg/.
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