Google Loses the Case against Epic Games. Fortnite Stays!

What Epic started in March 2021 against mobile platforms grew really epic; and while Apple ultimately won its case, with some exceptions it now counterclaims, with Google it’s a different story. Though Google and Apple had the same problem with Epic who tried to implement a standalone payment system bypassing those of the platforms, the Google case is more favorable for Epic.

After Google removed Fortnite and other games by Epic from Google Play (just like Apple did from App Store), there was a whole bunch of lawsuits both in the USA and abroad. One of these lawsuits was taking place in Australia where Epic also claimed that Google had abused its control over Android (though it’s not as total as Apple’s over iOS) and the same way forced developers to use Google Play store with 30% fees.

One of the ways out that both tech giants tried to use was a stay of proceedings which would be finally the favorable option for both Apple and Google. And in this, both of them failed. For Apple, the court ruled it out last year, and for Google, the moment is now. The situation differs a little: Google tried to stop the proceedings to have them happen in California instead of Australia where Epic sued Google.

In the end, though, Federal Court Justice Nye Perram declined Google’s appeals, ruling that dealing with the case in Santa Clara, California, will not be reliable enough for either consumers or The Commission; at least, the Australian court will not let this matter out of its control as Google wants it.