Epic Scores Victory as Judge Rules Google Must Open Up the Play Store | TechRaptor

Epic Scores Victory as Judge Rules Google Must Open Up the Play Store | TechRaptor

From TechRaptor on | OpenCritic

A judge has issued his final ruling in an ongoing lawsuit between Fortnite developer Epic Games and Android owner Google, and the ruling will no doubt be music to Epic's ears.

According to The Verge, Judge James Donato has ruled that Google must now open up its Play Store on Android devices to third-party app stores such as the Epic Games Store, and it must, in The Verge's words, give "rival third-party app stores access to the full catalog of Google Play apps".

Additionally, Google must stop requiring apps to use its Google Play Billing payment system, since the jury in the lawsuit found that the tying of this system to the Play Store was illegal. Given that that's arguably where this whole mess began, that's likely to please Epic.

Google must also allow developers to tell users about different payment methods, link to alternative app download sources, and set their own price for apps "irrespective of Play Billing", as The Verge puts it.

However, it hasn't all gone down in Epic's favor. Judge Donato ruled that Google must open up the Play Store for three years, but Epic wanted six, and it also wanted users to be...

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