News: US Judge Warns Google That Major Changes Will Be Imposed for Illegal Play Store Monopoly -
U.S. District Judge James Donato has advised Google that big changes are likely to be forced upon the Android application store following an investigation by a jury found that the Play Store is operating as an unlawful monopoly.
The Associated Press reports that Judge Donato has suggested that he might demand Google to let different app stores for Android devices. This is aimed at reducing Google's dominance over the distribution of apps and its billing on its platform. The monopoly that Google has with "nearly complete control" generates billions annually for Google and the court's decision could disrupt this, as Google estimating potential costs that could reach $600 million.
Google has expressed concerns about the possibility of opening up its Play Store to third-party app stores can expose users to security threats, leading to what Google calls "security chaos." Despite these concerns, Judge Donato has stressed the need for a significant overhaul, stating, "We are going to tear the barriers down; it's going to happen."
The case falls under an overall antitrust campaign against Google and another important instance involving its search engine scheduled to start in September. The judge hopes to make an order describing the required changes in Google's Play Store soon, possibly before Labor Day.
A piece in The Verge on the same issue provides a list of Epic Games benefiting from these outcomes as well. There is also a the article's subtitle that reads "Judge James Donato will issue his final ruling on the terms Google gives -- and Epic receives within a matter of weeks."
Other Reading
About
This is the way that gaming studios market their games all over the world. For nearly two decades, has been a payment service that you can utilize to offer games or other games-related items via your website, web shop, or embedded directly into your game with fully customizable and custom-branded checkouts made just for you. It lets you eliminate the burden of managing global payments as well as VAT and sales tax compliance, player payments support as well as many other aspects of payment management. Reduce the time you spend managing your payments and compliance, while spending you can spend more time creating great games!
