Verdict Form presented to the judge in the Epic v. Google trial
The whole battle took place in 2020 when Epic offered players of its popular Fortnite game the opportunity to purchase in-game currency directly from Epic for a discounted price. This violated Apple and Google’s rules which allow them to take as much as 30% of in-app revenue. Both Apple and Google kicked Fortnite out of their app stores leading the game developer to take both Apple and Google to court.
In the Epic v. Apple lawsuit, which was decided by a judge and not a jury, Apple was not declared a monopolist as Google was today. During her decision in Epic v. Apple, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers wrote, “Given the trial record, the Court cannot ultimately conclude that Apple is a monopolist under either federal or state antitrust laws.”
Like Apple did, Google is complaining that Epic profited from the high-visibility of the Play Store without contributing to the costs of running the platform.
