Epic and Google have agreed to a settlement in court that could very well change the pace of things for app and game developers far into the future. If you have somehow forgotten about Epic and Google’s legal battle over the Play Store, the most recent development in the case is that the two have agreed to settle on a proposed set of terms that works out for more than just developers in the US and for a much longer period of time than Epic was initially demanding.
After Epic’s win in court, Google was ordered to open up the Play Store to third-party app store developers and allow them to offer alternative payment processing methods to Google Play. Thereby allowing them to avoid Google’s hefty fee. This was supposed to be allowed for three years. After Google took things to the Supreme Court, it has now reached a settlement with Epic Games that potentially works out better for all involved.
The Epic and Google settlement includes lower fees and an extended timeframe for the changes
The key factor in the settlement is that the injunction ordered by Judge James Donato now applies to Google’s markets outside the US. Initially, Donato’s injunction was only for the US market. This is a big win for all developers as it now encompasses more of them. That means more competition and more choice for users.
Google has also agreed to lower Play Store fees for certain kinds of payments. Google says it will depend on what the payment is for and when an app or game was first installed. However, when applicable, fees could be as low as 20% or 9%, depending on those factors.
Google and Epic will still need Judge James Donato to approve the settlement terms. So, as of right now, nothing is set in stone. That being said, the settlement appears to work in everyone’s favor. Google is happy with it (as shown by Sameer Samat’s post on X), and Epic is happy with it. Even developers will likely be happy with it. All that remains is to see if Donato is happy with it.
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