15 Dec 2023
The jury agreed with the video game maker, calling out Google’s Play Store practices monopolistic.
On Tuesday, San Francisco-based video games maker and software developer Epic Games won a lawsuit against Google in the US. The gaming startup claimed that Google’s 30% commission on Play Store promotes monopoly, affects competition, and reduces innovation.
Epic Games alleged that in 2021, Google made a $12 billion operating profit on the Play Store by enforcing dominating policies in the app market. The jury agreed with the startup, thus making it a momentous win against the digital giant. However, Google plans to challenge Epic Games in the US Federal Court.
The win has encouraged startups worldwide and in India to fight against the hefty commission they call the ‘Google Tax’. The Competition Commission of India identified these issues in October 2020. It fined Google ₹936 crore for Competition Act violation, including making its in-house payment and billing system mandatory for paid apps and within-app purchases on the Play Store.