Epic stumbles in its crusade against Google: the judge in the case suspends the changes in the Play Store (although the story continues)

Earlier this month, Epic scored a major victory in its battle against Google. Judge James Donato issued a ruling that forced the search engine company to open the Play Store to the competition for a period of three years. These were changes so profound that they aimed to transform the Android ecosystem significantly.

The publication of the aforementioned court decision provoked an immediate response from Google. The firm led by Sundar Pichai did not hesitate for a moment to ensure that would start an appeal process. This movement has just borne its first fruit. It turns out that the magistrate who published the ruling has temporarily suspended part of the measures.

Google scores a key point

Google had until November 1 to allow developers to publish third party stores within the Play Store, as well as the possibility of using alternative billing methods. These changes will ultimately not come into effect on the aforementioned date, which gives Google a break, but not a definitive victory.

Judge James Donato has decided to wait for the response from the San Francisco appeals court. This is a move that comes after Google separately asked for the measures to be suspended. This means that we will have to wait to know the final outcome of this story.

“We are pleased with the District Court’s decision to temporarily pause the implementation of the dangerous measures required by Epic, while the Court of Appeal considers our request to continue pausing said measures during our appeal,” said a Google spokesperson, according to Bloomberg.

Has Google achieved a victory? As we say, the company has bought time and, of course, this is positive news for it and negative news for Epic. But not everything has been said. The appeals court ruling may be negative for Google, which would again pave the way for profound changes to its Android store.

Let us remember that justice has come to the conclusion that the Play Store is a monopoly and that part of its operation is sustained thanks to anti-competitive behavior. If changes finally come, it should be noted, they will apply exclusively to the US market, although they may have wide-ranging repercussions.

The feud between Epic and Google began shortly after the company founded by Tim Sweeney decided implement a direct payment method in ‘Fortnite’ to avoid Play Store commissions. A movement with similar characteristics took place in the App Store, which led to the removal of the game from both stores.

Images | Mika Baumeister | Bermix Studio | Vlad Yera

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