Epic Games CEO calls Google’s antitrust settlement a win for Android’s ‘vision as an open platform’

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney is calling Google’s connection successful its antitrust colony with the Fortnite shaper a “comprehensive solution” that “genuinely doubles down” connected Android’s imaginativeness of being an unfastened platform.

The companies connected Tuesday reached a colony that sees the hunt elephantine agreeing to Android app store reforms that see lowering fees and enabling much competition.

Under the caller proposal, which inactive requires the judge’s approval, Google volition let Android app developers to constituent users to alternate outgo mechanisms wrong their apps and done outer web links. It besides caps the fees Google is capable to complaint developers astatine either 9% oregon 20%, depending connected the benignant of transaction.

In a post connected X, Sameer Samat, president of the Android Ecosystem astatine Google, wrote that the company’s projected changes “focus connected expanding developer prime and flexibility, lowering fees, and encouraging much contention each portion keeping users safe.” If approved by the court, the woody would enactment an extremity to the antitrust litigation.

Sweeney praised the proposal, calling it “awesome,” and contrasted it with Apple’s model, which helium said was focused connected “blocking each competing stores and leaving payments arsenic the lone vector for competition.”

Apple has argued its policies are astir protecting consumers and managing App Store security. That said, the iPhone shaper precocious reported record gross for its Services business, which includes the App Store — the segment’s gross roseate 15% to $28.75 cardinal successful the past 4th from a twelvemonth earlier.

Epic Games had sued some Google and Apple, accusing their respective app store ecosystems of being anti-competitive, and alleging the companies person excessively overmuch control, complaint excessive fees, and favour their ain in-app outgo systems. Apple mostly won its lawsuit with Epic, but had to modify its App Store rules to let for alternate outgo options. Google, however, lost its entreaty successful July aft a assemblage recovered that the hunt elephantine had stifled contention and needed to marque changes.

After the win, Sweeney announced that the Epic Games Store for Android would beryllium coming to the Google Play Store.