‘Fortnite’ has had to wait a few months, but it is now available for Android users (at the moment in the United States, and in other countries, irregularly, if the game is installed with the Epic Games app) as a download from the Store. A true triumph for Epic that comes in handy to inaugurate season 7 of the game.
What has happened? ‘Fortnite’ has returned to the Android Store American after Google has complied with the court order that forced it to open its ecosystem to competition. The return of popular battle royale by Epic Games culminates a legal battle against Google’s monopoly that has spanned more than four years and ended with a historic defeat for the technology giant.
As confirmed by Epic Gamesinitial availability is limited to the United States while negotiations continue to obtain judicial approval of the final agreement that would allow its expansion to the rest of the world. It is the direct result compliance with a court order, which found Google guilty of illegal monopolistic practices.
The verdict. On December 11, 2023, a jury in California unanimously ruled in favor of Epic Games on all eleven charges brought against Google. The decision established that the company had operated an illegal monopoly both in the distribution of Android applications and in the payment system within the apps. The judge imposed an injunction requiring the Play Store to distribute alternative app stores.
During the trial, Epic exposed what Google internally called “Project Hug,” an initiative in which Google spent hundreds of millions of dollars in secret settlements with more than twenty core developers. According to became documentedbeneficiaries included Activision Blizzard, Nintendo, Riot Games, Square Enix, Tencent and Ubisoft, among others. Google offered to Epic a deal valued at $208 million to keep Fortnite on the Play Store, an offer that Epic rejected, unleashing what Google saw as a “risk of contagion.”
Opposite verdicts. The curious thing is that Epic Games lost decisively against Apple in a practically identical case. a judge dismissed nine of the ten lawsuits Epic antitrust case against the iOS App Store in 2021. The fundamental difference was who decided each case. While Apple opted for a trial before a judge, Epic demanded jury to confront Google. Apple managed at the time to defend its “walled garden” model by arguing that full control over iOS guaranteed security and privacy.
Epic’s own CEO, Tim Sweeney, admitted during trial to use iPhone personally for these reasons. Android, on the other hand, presents itself as an open platform that allows multiple stores, which made its restrictive practices more difficult to justify. The case against Apple, however, is still ongoing, and includes perjury allegations against Apple.
The agreement. Epic and Google have presented a proposed agreement that, if approved, would end five years of legal confrontation. The agreement drastically reduces commissions that Google can charge: between 9% and 20% depending on the type of transaction and the date of installation of the app, figures well below the historical 30% that motivated the original conflict. The agreement maintains the restrictions of the original court order, permanently prohibiting Google from paying manufacturers, operators or developers for exclusivity agreements that favor the Play Store.
The agreement between both companies would go beyond the application of the judicial decision: it would be global and would remain in force until June 2032, making it one of the most important antitrust pacts ever assumed by a platform. Significantly, the judge questioned that two “mortal enemies” who fought “ruthlessly” for years suddenly reached an agreement, suggesting that Google may be trying to water down remedies after losing all its appeals, and has scheduled an additional hearing for December or January to clarify whether the agreement genuinely addresses the Google Play monopoly.
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