Google settles with Epic Games with offer to lower its app store commissions
ABC News
Google will lower the lucrative fees imposed on its Android app store and offer a way for rival options to gain its stamp of approval, ending a bruising legal battle that led to one of several rulings condemning its tactics as an illegal monopoly
SAN FRANCISCO -- Google will lower the lucrative fees imposed on its Android app store and offer a way for rival options to gain its stamp of approval, ending a bruising legal battle that led to one of several rulings condemning its tactics as an illegal monopoly.
The proposed changes filed Wednesday with a federal court in San Francisco mark the latest twist in a case that began in August 2020 when video game maker Epic Games filed an antitrust case seeking make it easier for alternative payment options to compete against Google's Play Store system, which charges 15% to 30% commissions on a wide variety of in-app transactions.
Google's concessions come five months after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of the company's attempt to overturn a federal judge's order requiring a far more extensive overhaul of the Play Store following a 2023 trial that culminated in a jury declaring the setup an illegal monopoly.
Backed into a legal corner, Google is now prepared to decrease its baseline commissions for subscriptions and e-commerce transactions into the 10% to 20% range while creating a new option that would charge 5% for payment processing.
App developers could still choose to rely on another payment processing system besides Google's and consumers will be able to download apps from alternative stores that go through a certification process. Although not required, alternative app stores that go through the Google's registration process are less likely to provoke warnings about security risks.
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