Google appeals ruling in Epic Games case that would break open the Play Store

Unsurprisingly, Google filed an official notice of appeal following the district court’s ruling and jury verdict handed down this week in its ongoing legal battle with Epic Games over the Play Store.

U.S. Judge James Donato ruled that Google would need to distribute third-party app stores through Google Play as well as drop requirements that apps on Google Play use its billing system. The ruling included several other changes to promote competition, including allowing Android developers to link to other ways to download their apps outside of the Play Store and preventing Google from offering money or perks to developers to exclusively launch on Play. The Verge has a full breakdown here.

Earlier this week, Google announced its plan to appeal via a blog post. In that post, it called the changes risks to privacy and security, said they would make it harder for developers to promote their apps and claimed it’d hurt competition.

“Ultimately, while these changes presumably satisfy Epic, they will cause a range of unintended consequences that will harm American consumers, developers and device makers,” the company said in the blog post.

The company also pointed out that the ruling runs contrary to what another court ruled in a case between Epic and Apple. That case ultimately landed in Apple’s favour, with the court only ordering Apple to allow developers to offer alternate payment methods outside of its in-app purchase system.

It remains to be seen what happens with the appeal, but companies are already moving to take advantage of the new rules, which take effect starting November 1st, 2024. Epic announced plans to bring the Epic Games Store to Google Play in 2025 in the U.S., while Microsoft just announced it would let people buy and play games directly in its Xbox Android app starting next month.

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Source: The Verge