Information: A Tentative Settlement in the antitrust lawsuit against Google Play direct-to-consumer Announced -
On Tuesday, Sept. 6th, a preliminary agreement was reached on an action brought from 37 U.S. states versus Alphabet's Google.
Below are the most important details about the case and what it might mean for businesses that sell products that are digital through Google's U.S. Play Store.
What's the Google antitrust suit about?
In Utah v. Google, 37 attorneys general maintain that Google uses illegal, anticompetitive, and/or unfair commercial practices which hinder competition, raise prices, and limit choices, all of which hurt consumers purchasing games and other digital items on the Google Play store.
It was brought by Utah Attorney General Sean D. Reyes, the lawsuit focuses on "exclusionary actions relating to Google Play Store for Android," with actions such as shutting down other app distribution channels and requiring the use of Google Billing (with up to 30% commission for Google).
The lawsuit is led by AGs in New York, North Carolina, and Tennessee, and the 37 AGs represent 21 million people involved in the lawsuit.
What was the latest development during the Google antitrust lawsuit?
A settlement was disclosed, but details are not yet available. The court must approve the settlement, but those who are part of the settlement (including Utah's AG) have requested to have the planned trial on Nov. 6 trial be canceled.
Google had denied wrongdoing but has yet to comment regarding this latest development.
There is no current timeline for when information are expected to be made public, however as it's the result of a class action suit it is likely that the information will be made public once the lawsuit is concluded.
What does this mean for game or app developers from the US or otherwise?
If the terms of the agreement allow for easing the Google's existing Play Store restrictions and the necessity to make use of Google Billing which is a payment method, it could be a major victory for game and app developers who want to expand the ways they promote their apps using less expensive, direct-to-consumer solutions like .
According to an announcement published on Utah Attorney General Sean D. Reyes' website The 30% commission "is much higher than the commission that customers would have to pay in the event they had the option to choose one of Google's competitors instead." The lawsuit says Google did not keep its word that it would make Android "open open source" in order that device manufacturers as well as app developers could develop applications without any limitations.
We will not know the complete implications until the terms of the settlement are made public.
What's the deal with Apple?
Perhaps you're familiar with Epic Games' case against Apple concerning similar concerns. Following the time that Epic offered Fortnite gamers to pay using its own payment system by providing discounts, both Apple and Google removed Fortnite out of their stores for apps. Epic then sued both Apple as well as Google in different cases.
The last month of April, a 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled in the Apple appeal, with conflicting conclusions. They agreed with Apple and said that the App Store does not violate Federal antitrust laws. However they also backed the ruling of a lower court in favor of Epic, stating that Apple's prohibition against permitting app developers to send users to different alternative Store payment options violated California's Unfair Competition Law.
Epic requested to the U.S. Supreme court to allow the injunction to take effect and to force Apple to modify the App Store policies however Apple continues to appeal the ruling. However, in August SCOTUS struck down Epic's appeal which suggested that any adjustments may not be implemented until the appeals process is completed.
Epic isn't part of Utah v. Google case, as they have their own case (with Match Group) against Google. Epic's CEO Tim Sweeney posted on Twitter that "If Google is ending its payment monopoly, without having to impose a Google Tax on third party transactions, then we'll settle and become Google's ally in the new age."
What can it do to assist game developers with direct-to-consumer payments and subscriptions?
Plus, our services come with an application platform that provides an JavaScript Store Builder Library to help you get up and running to quickly integrate to your application or game.
More Information
The Utah Attorney General's site contains more resources on this matter.