The Supreme Court denied Google’s request to temporarily pause a lower court’s ruling that the company must make changes to its Play app store.
Google made the request regarding a ruling in the antitrust case filed by Epic Games, and the Supreme Court denied the request Monday (Oct. 6) without comment, Bloomberg reported Monday.
In its lawsuit, Epic Games alleged that Google monopolized how consumers access apps on Android devices and make payments within apps.
A jury ruled in the games company’s favor in 2023, and a judge ordered Google in October 2024 to allow users to download rival app stores within Google Play and to make Google Play’s app catalog available to competitors.
Reached by PYMNTS, a Google spokesperson said in an emailed statement: “Android provides more choice for users and developers than any mobile OS, and the changes ordered by the U.S. District Court will jeopardize users’ ability to safely download apps. While we’re disappointed the order isn’t stayed, we will continue our appeal.”
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said in a Monday post on X that with the Supreme Court’s rejection of Google’s stay request, “developers will be legally entitled to steer US Google Play users to out-of-app payments without fees, scare screens, and friction — same as Apple App Store users in the US!”
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In another Monday post on X, Sweeney said: “Vendors are lining up to win deals with developers in the US, and hopefully EU soon — big tech trade bullying aside. Epic Games Store has Web Shops. Xsolla and others have similar services. And then there’s Stripe, Apple Pay and Google Pay.”
Epic Games announced the launch of Web Shops in a Oct. 2 press release, saying the platform enables developers to sell in-game content directly to players using Epic’s global distribution network and eCommerce platform.
“Web Shops are available worldwide for mobile games and governed by Apple and Google’s store steering rules in each territory,” the release said. “This feature has immediate value in the U.S., where a court injunction allows steering and will become highly attractive on Android on October 22nd when the court injunction forcing the Google Play Store to allow steering goes into effect.”
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