Epic wins legal battle, Google required to allow third-party apps in Play Store
The lawsuit, initially filed by Epic Games on August 13, 2020, targeted Google’s app store policies, specifically challenging the "30 percent app tax" on in-app purchases. Until now, developers had to pay 30 percent of the proceeds from each purchase to Google and could not circumvent this through their own app stores, as these were not allowed to be offered in the Google Play Store. Epic saw this as anti-competitive and tried to circumvent the 30 percent app tax with its own payment system. As a result, Google removed Epic's popular game Fortnite from the Play Store, which formed the basis for the legal dispute.
Judge James Donato has now ruled that Google must allow competing app stores within the Google Play Store and grant them access to the entire app catalog without entering into exclusive agreements with developers or device manufacturers. Additionally, Google is required to enable developers to use alternative payment systems beyond its Google Play Billing and must inform users about these payment options as well as alternative download methods.
From November 1, the technology giant has 8 months to implement the requirements, which are initially set for 3 years. It’s important to note that the ruling will, for now, only impact the U.S. market. In Europe and other parts of the world, the restrictions for developers will remain in place for the time being.
Epic app store announced for 2025
Epic boss Tim Sweeny was correspondingly pleased with the court ruling and has already announced that he will be launching his own app store for Android in 2025, which will not levy a 30 percent app tax.
Google lodges appeal
Google has already announced its plans to appeal the ruling. In a blog post, the company expressed concerns about user security and privacy. Google argues that opening up the Play Store to third-party providers could lead to security problems, even if it is still allowed to carry out security checks.
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