Epic Games, the Maker of Fortnite, Wins Antitrust Suit Against Google

Epic Games, the North Carolina-based maker of global hit game Fortnite, triumphed over Google in a nearly four-year court battle over anti-competitive practices. This decision could transform app marketplaces, affecting how they are run, whether competitor app markets can be built and thrive, and how much money thousands of app makers can make from customers through services offered in these markets. 

The complex, rambling legal case hinged on whether Google acted monopolistically in running its app store in violation of antitrust laws. The trial shed light on details like Google’s secret promotional deals with smartphone makers and other game developers that excluded Epic. The plaintiff’s core argument essentially said that by controlling the entire app economic system, including payment systems, and carrying out other anticompetitive business practices, Google harmed the game maker and stifled competition.

The jury found Epic convincing on all points.

Google, like Apple, charges a app makers percentage of money paid by customers, and requires that these payments go through its own system. Call it a handling fee, a market access fee, or whatever: This cut earns the tech giants a lot of revenue. Defending their level of app market control, Google and Apple have argued it benefits consumers, since it includes their own security jeasures against bad actors scamming users for money or data.

Epic had launched a similar legal battle against Google’s lead smartphone competitior Apple, but a mixed ruling earlier this year mostly favored Apple when the court said the tech giant was not acting as a monopolist. Apple was required to open up its in-app payment system, which it had previously fiercely controlled, but both Epic and Apple have since asked the Supreme Court to revisit the case.

It’s not immmediately clear what the new ruling will mean for the global app developer industry. Epic asked the court to require Google to open up its ecosystem. Should that occur, any developer could launch, curate, and charge fees for their own app store, so that they can have total access to users, their own market data, and billing processes. Epic has its eye on its own profits, of course, but in a statement praising the ruling, Epic said it was a “win for all app developers and consumers around the world.” The company futher suggested that Google had been limiting competition and reducing innovation, implying that a radical change to Google’s habits means more businesses can innovate and find new ways to make money.

The court hasn’t yet listed the penalties Google faces, and Epic didn’t sue for damages. 

It’s also worth remembering that this isn’t a victory for the “little guy,” a ruling that will have hoards of small-scale enterprises racing to make millions now that the status of an indsutry giant has been cracked open. Epic’s flagship Fortnite game garnered over $9 billion in revenue in its first two years. Just a few weeks ago, Fortnite had its biggest day ever, with some 45 million players in a single day.

Despite its claims against Apple and Google, Epic has been running its own app store on other platforms that have millions of regular customers. The company did laid off 16% of its workforce in November as a cost-cutting measure, but data-gathering company Statista still predicts that by 2026 Epic’s annual gross revenue will top $6 billion. Compared to trillion-dollar scale foes like Apple and Google, Epic is indeed small-though compared to many app developers, Epic is a giant.

Ultimately this ruling indicates that in the near future, small- and medium-sized app developers may have more direct control over how much money they make. That’s going to excite many companies, and even help generate up some new and innovative products. But how the  court’s decision will affect bottom lines apart from Epic’s will take several years to play out. That won’t happen until all the moving parts of this case stop moving: Google has, for example, already said it will appeal.