Epic Games wins antitrust case against Google

Epic Games Wins as a federal jury has sided with the video game developer and found Google to violate US antitrust laws regarding how it runs the Play Store.

Victory over Google! After 4 weeks of detailed court testimony, the California jury found against the Google Play monopoly on all counts. The Court’s work on remedies will start in January. Thanks for everyone’s support and faith! Free Fortnite! https://t.co/ITm4YBHCus
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) December 12, 2023

Epic Games wins legal case against Google.

As per The Verge‘s report, the jury unanimously concluded that Google maintained an unlawful monopoly over app distribution and in-app billing services for Android devices. Additionally, it deemed the company’s distribution contracts with various other video gaming firms and its arrangements with device manufacturers to pre-install its apps on Android devices as anticompetitive.

In a statement published on Epic Games’ website, Today’s verdict is a win for all app developers and consumers around the world. It proves that Google’s app store practices are illegal and they abuse their monopoly to extract exorbitant fees, stifle competition, and reduce innovation.

“The evidence presented in this case demonstrates the urgent need for legislation and regulations that address Apple and Google strangleholds over smartphones, including with promising legislation in progress right now with the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill in the UK and the Digital Markets Act in the EU.”

The jury reached its decision after listening to two hours of closing arguments from the lawyers on the opposing sides of the case.

As expected Google plans to challenge the verdict.