A federal court today ruled in favor of video game giant Epic Games, Inc. in a years-long antitrust case in which Epic has argued that Google LLC holds an illegal monopoly with its Play app store.

At a time when regulators and prosecutors are seemingly forever talking about dismantling the power structures of U.S. big tech and taming what some say has become a Wild West where the gatekeepers do what they want, the verdict today will come as a big blow to the companies.

Three years ago, Epic, the maker of the immensely popular game Fortnite, sued both Google and Apple. The company claimed the powers that be charging 15% to 30% to download apps was an unfair tax. Epic called both companies monopolistic and since then had tried to prove it.

In 2021, a federal judge ruled mostly in Apple’s favor, stating that the company did not have an illegal monopoly, and so wasn’t stifling competition and innovation as Epic had argued. Epic is still in the process of appealing that verdict at the U.S. Supreme Court, although a small victory was won after the judge ruled that Apple should allow companies to advertise their own app stores with lower prices on the Apple app store.

The case against Google stalled, and stalled again, until today when, after a few hours of deliberation, a jury was unanimous in saying that Google does indeed indulge in monopolistic practices in its app store. The jury said the tie between the Google Play app store and Google Play Billing service was illegal, as was Project Hug, in which Google tried to entice developers, offering lots of money not to compete with its app store.

“Today’s verdict is a win for all app developers and consumers around the world,” Epic said in a statement today. “It proves that Google’s app store practices are illegal and they abuse their monopoly to extract exorbitant fees, stifle competition and reduce innovation.”

Epic said the days are now over when the Play Store is “the only app store in town” on Android phones, calling the win “historic.” The company added that this “stranglehold” that the tech giants have over the smartphone app market is coming undone, mentioning the recent legislation in the form of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill in the U.K. and the Digital Markets Act in the E.U.

Wilson White, Google’s vice president of government affairs and public policy, said Google planned to “challenge the verdict,” adding, “We will continue to defend the Android business model and remain deeply committed to our users, partners and the broader Android ecosystem.”

The verdict struck some observers as odd, placed against the previous ruling favoring Apple, given that Google’s Play store is widely considered to be more “open” than Apple’s App Store, which also unlike Google doesn’t allow app makers to “side-load” apps outside the official installation process.

Photo: David Stewart/Flickr