Epic Games’ chief executive is concerned that Google will “get away with it” by keeping high prices on its app store. fortnite The manufacturer won a surprising legal victory against the tech giant on this issue this week.
Tim Sweeney told the Financial Times on Monday that he feared Google would offer a “sham” remedy to a California court that found the search company was abusing its alleged monopoly over the Android app ecosystem. He said he was worried that
In a landmark lawsuit in the US, Epic accused Google of terminating contracts with smartphone manufacturers, network operators and game developers to shut down Play Store alternatives on Android devices.
Epic said the agreement allowed the company to collect an exorbitant 30% fee on digital purchases through mandatory payment methods, even as it exposed Google to further competition. argued that it would not be that expensive. The court will then decide how the search giant must change its operations to comply with the jury’s verdict.
“My biggest concern about this is that Google really thinks they can just continue with their plan,” Sweeney said.
He said he was concerned that while Google was willing to allow alternative payment methods, it would also charge developers nearly 30% less of their revenue for Play Store usage fees. The move would effectively remove the incentive to drop charges against Google.
The judge in the case has already ruled out any attempt to “micromanage” Google’s fees. The proposed settlement with US state attorneys general is expected to be made public soon and will mark the concessions Google has already agreed to regarding its stores.
“My concern about the state settlement, which I’m not familiar with, is that it reinstates a form of false competition that doesn’t actually give consumers the benefits of real competition,” Sweeney said. Ta.
Given the operating costs that Epic sees for its stores, “we’re finding that these stores can operate at significantly lower rates than what Google is charging,” he said.
Epic remains hopeful for a better outcome from this lawsuit. The case marked the first time in more than 20 years that a top U.S. technology company had been found by a U.S. court to have engaged in monopolistic conduct. The decision comes as a major rebuke to Google, even as the company is fighting two antitrust lawsuits brought by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Sweeney, a video game programmer, founded Epic in 1991. This company produces popular games. fortnite, now worth more than $30 billion. China’s Tencent owns about 40% of the company’s shares.
Epic launched a dual legal attack against both Apple and Google in August 2020, challenging the way their respective app stores operate.
fortnite It has since been launched from Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store and remains banned. However, the judges who heard Apple’s case largely ruled against Epic. A petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an appeal of this decision is pending.
Google’s fate, decided by a jury rather than a judge, was very different. After Monday’s verdict, Sweeney, who was freed from court rules barring her from speaking to jurors during the trial, went to thank the jurors.
āEveryone uses smartphones now, and one of the jurors fortnite He was a player and it was great to watch,ā Sweeney said. āIt was really heartening to see that the justice system worked so well in the end.ā
Sweeney said the main reason for Google’s losses was the weight of evidence against the company about the billions of dollars it paid to Samsung and other companies to keep its suite of apps and Play Store on its devices. He said that he believes that this can be explained by
The judge in the case, U.S. District Judge James Donato, also criticized the company for failing to preserve evidence by establishing an internal policy on chat deletion. He instructed the jury that they were free to conclude that Google’s chat deletion policy was designed to hide incriminating evidence.
“The people at Google clearly knew what they were doing,” Sweeney said. “They were destroying most of their chats, but they were very clear internally writing emails to each other.”
“And there was a massive destruction of documents,” Sweeney added. “It’s amazing that a trillion-dollar company at the pinnacle of American technology would engage in a process that is so blatantly dishonest that it puts all communications in the form of chats and discards them every 24 hours. Google has since changed its chat deletion policy.
Epic says it’s fighting for all Android developers, but it also has its own clear interests. It’s all about increasing traffic to its own Epic Games store, which charges a 12 percent commission to developers who sell on its platform, and taking a cut.Because of that fortnite income. The sale of digital items and upgrades within Epic’s games also incurs Apple and Google fees.
While Google technically operates an “open” app ecosystem, licensing Android to smartphone manufacturers who could theoretically offer a rival store, Apple is an end user who only offers iOS on Apple devices. It uses a “closed” end model.
In Sweeney’s case, Apple and Google may do it differently, but the result is the same. “Distribution monopolies are imposed by Apple in absolute terms, and by Google in terms that are simply despicable and unfair. And these practices have not yet been stopped.”
Google said it competes “intensely” with Apple and other dedicated gaming platforms. Android also allows you to download apps from other sources. Apple also disputes the notion that it has a monopoly over iOS.
The next steps in Google’s case are complicated. The tech giant could appeal the jury’s verdict within the next year. In another hearing, a judge could consider what needs to be done to change Google’s policies and contracts with smartphone makers, network operators and game developers.
“Google has cut off competition in many ways and entrenched its monopoly deep into the Android ecosystem, so we expect it to be a powerful process,” Sweeney said. “Restoring competition in these markets will require a multifaceted package of remedies.”