Be looking out for the Epic Video games Retailer, because it ought to seem on the Google Play Retailer quickly. After shedding its enchantment of a decide’s order, Google will now must overhaul its app retailer insurance policies. This contains letting third-party app shops onto its platform.
At present, the Ninth Circuit Court docket of Appeals determined (through Bloomberg) to uphold the ruling from the unique Epic v. Google lawsuit. This determination discovered the Play Retailer and the tech large’s cost methods to be monopolies. In consequence, Google must comply with the cures from that antitrust case. These cures embody limiting the corporate’s capacity to pay telephone makers to preinstall the Play Retailer, permitting builders to make use of different cost methods, and opening up Android to third-party app shops.
This determination comes after Google received a momentary administrative keep in 2024. Nonetheless, Google was nonetheless pressured to cease making offers with different telephone producers that prohibited transport {hardware} with non-Google app shops put in.
After the ruling was handed down, Google’s VP of Regulatory Affairs, Lee-Anne Mulholland, supplied the next assertion:
This determination will considerably hurt consumer security, restrict alternative, and undermine the innovation that has all the time been central to the Android ecosystem. Our prime precedence stays defending our customers and builders, and making certain a safe platform as we proceed our enchantment.
Builders Alliance Board Chair Jake Ward echoes the sentiment that Google provided. In an announcement despatched to Android Authority, Ward stated:
The Ninth Circuit has spoken — and apparently, constructing a safe platform that sparks innovation is now grounds for punishment. By upholding the District Court docket’s cures, the courtroom has handed Apple full dominance of the app market on a silver platter.
These misguided cures is not going to promote competitors or assist customers, however will jeopardize the belief and worth that builders discover within the Android ecosystem. Forcing Google to distribute third-party app shops on Google Play and permitting builders to hyperlink to unsecure locations creates safety issues that can undermine client belief in Android.
In an unsettled financial system, builders want assist and stability — not judicial overreach that introduces new dangers and limitations to success.
In the meantime, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney praised the choice, claiming “whole victory” on X (previously Twitter). He adopted that social submit with one other that introduced that the Epic Video games Retailer for Android will now be coming to the Play Retailer as a result of verdict.
