Google has been acting as a monopoly for years in the mobile Android ecosystem. That’s the conclussion of the US judge that granted Epic Games a victory against the Google.
The verdict was reached last December. It took a while to see the consequences, but finally the judge issued a permanent injuction that will force Google to open up the Android app ecosystem and allow third party stores to be distributed through the PlayStore.
Epic Games benefits from it, as it had already launched the Epic Games Store on Android last summer, where they can distribute Fortnite, Fall Guys and Rocket League, avoiding the 30% fee Google would take on any purchase.
Microsoft will also take benefit. Sarah Bond, president of Xbox, has announced that starting novembers, Android players will be able to play and purchase Xbox games directly from the Xbox App.
As far as we know, this change will only apply to the US, as the order only applies to that territory. It is also unknown what games will Xbox publish and sell through their app, but it’s another step into liberalising the mobile games marketplace.