Google says Epic’s Play Store demands are “are bad for everyone but Epic”

Epic won its antitrust lawsuit against Google last year and has listed its demands in front of a US court, but the search giant isn’t pleased with them.

Google has strongly criticized the list of demands provided by Epic. In a blog post dated May 22, Google’s VP of Government Affairs and Public Policy, Wilson White, wrote, “Epic’s proposed remedies are bad for everyone but Epic.”

On December 11th, Epic Games won a victory against Google in federal court. A jury unanimously decided that Google had turned the Google Play app store and Google Play Billing service into an illegal monopoly.

Epic, the developer behind Fortnite, submitted demands for users to download apps from any store or the web, to prevent Google from coercing OEMs or carriers to favor Google Play. Epic also wants Google to stop imposing fees for bypassing the Play Store, which it views as anti-competitive. These are only a handful of the many demands Epic submitted.

Google calls Epic’s proposed demands “unnecessary” and says they “go far beyond the scope of the recent U.S. trial verdict”. Google has shared why these demands are “problematic and unnecessary” in 6 bullet points.

Epic Games / Pexels

The search giant says, “Epic’s proposal puts Android users’ security at risk on third-party app stores” as it “removes Google’s ability to implement trust and safety measures that keep Android users safe.” Google points out that the proposal also “hurts the privacy of Android users” as it will force Google to tell “any and all third-party app stores which apps a user has installed on their phone through Google Play.”

Google further states that the proposal “reduces developers’ control over their app distribution” by placing their apps on “a store without the same user protections” as the Play Store. The proposal also “cuts off key business opportunities for developers” by restricting “Google’s ability to offer any financial incentives to developers to distribute their apps in the Play Store,” says the company.

Finally, Google claims Epic’s proposal also “hurts device manufacturers” by reducing “what OEMs can earn from pre-installation and placement on their devices.”

Google will be challenging these demands in court. Judge James Donato will hear from experts on both sides at a hearing on May 23.