New: Settlement Tentative of Google Play Direct-to-Consumer Antitrust Lawsuit Announced -
On Tuesday, Sept. 6th, a preliminary settlement was agreed upon in an action brought from 37 U.S. states against Alphabet's Google.
Below are the most important details concerning the matter and what it could mean for businesses that sell products that are digital through Google's U.S. Play Store.
What's the Google antitrust suit about?
In Utah v. Google, 37 attorneys general argue that Google uses unconstitutional, anti-competitive, or unlawful commercial practice which limit the market, increase prices and restrict choices, all of which affect consumers who purchase games and other digital items via Google Play. Google Play store.
The suit was filed by Utah Attorney General Sean D. Reyes, the suit focuses on "exclusionary conduct relating to the Google Play Store for Android," with actions such as shutting down other app distribution channels and mandating the use of Google Billing (with up to 30% of the commission going to Google).
The suit is co-led by AGs who are located in New York, North Carolina in North Carolina, New York and Tennessee The 37 total AGs are 21 million consumers involved in the lawsuit.
What has happened in the Google antitrust lawsuit?
The settlement has been announced however the details have not been released. The court still needs to decide whether to approve the settlement. However, parties to the agreement (including the Utah's AG) have asked for the trial on Nov. 6 trial be cancelled.
Google was adamant about its innocence but has yet to comment about this development.
There is no current time frame on when details will be revealed, however since it is the result of a class action suit it is likely that the information are expected to be public after the lawsuit is concluded.
What can this mean for game or app creators within the US or other countries?
If the conditions of the settlement include relaxing the Google's existing Play Store restrictions and the obligation to utilize Google Billing This could be a major win for app and game developers who want to expand the ways they promote their apps adopting cheaper, direct-to-consumer payment methods like .
According to the statement posted published on Utah Attorney General Sean D. Reyes' website the 30% Google commission "is significantly higher than the commission that consumers would pay if they had the ability to choose the Google's rival instead." The lawsuit claims Google did not keep the promise it made to keep Android "open open source" to ensure that device makers and developers of apps could design applications without any limitations.
The full consequences until the details of the settlement are officially made public.
What about Apple?
You may already be familiar with Epic Games' case against Apple regarding similar issues. After Epic offered Fortnite users to use its own payment system, offering discounts to them in exchange for discounts Apple and Google removed Fortnite from their app stores. Epic was then sued by Apple as well as Google in separate cases.
In April of this year, the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decided on the Apple decision with mixed results. They agreed with Apple and said that the App Store does not violate Federal antitrust laws. However they also agreed with a lower court's ruling in favor of Epic and ruled that Apple's prohibition against the app developer from directing users to other alternative Store payment options violated California's Unfair Competition Law.
Epic requested to the U.S. Supreme court to allow the injunction to take effect and also force Apple to change the App Store's practices however Apple is still appealing the decision. However, in August the Supreme Court ruled against Epic's petition, suggesting that changes may not be applied until the appeals process is completed.
Epic is not a part of Utah v. Google case, as they have an individual case (with Match Group) against Google. Epic's chief executive Tim Sweeney posted on Twitter on social media that "If Google is ending its payment monopoly, without having to impose an Google Tax on third party transactions, then we'll settle and join with Google in their new world."
How does help game designers with direct-to-consumer payment as well as subscriptions?
Additionally, our solutions include an application platform that provides the JavaScript Store Builder Library to enable you for quick integration in your game or app.
More Info
The Utah Attorney General's site contains other resources related to the issue.