Epic wins major Google lawsuit, further opening up Android phones to third-party stores

Epic Games has won a major victory in its ongoing legal battle against Google, which a US judge has now ruled operates an illegal monopoly via its smartphone app store.

Google - which is appealing the verdict - has been ordered to allow third-party storefront apps such as the Epic Games Store to be made available from the Google Play Store in the US next year.

For at least the next three years, Google will also be forced to allow users to pay via alternate means, rather than just Google Play Billing, from which Google takes a 30 percent cut.

In a statement released in response to the verdict, Google said it would push back against the ruling and request a pause on its required changes "to maintain a consistent and safe experience for users and developers".

Google has argued the verdict should be reviewed as it appears to contradict the ruling of Epic's less-successful Apple trial - and that because it exists in competition to Apple, it does not have a monopoly either.

"The Epic verdict missed the obvious," Google spokesperson Lee-Anne Mulholland wrote. "Apple and Android clearly compete."

Epic Games boss Tim Sweeney, meanwhile, had this pithy pun:

Google has pointed to Android already being "open" - and more so than iOS - as it allows side-loading and lets users download the Epic Games Store currently.

This is true, of course, though Epic Games' fight here has been to streamline the process of getting to the Epic Games Store - which currently requires a fiddly process where users see various "scare screens" designed to put them off.

Indeed, Epic Games has already launched a fresh lawsuit against both Google and former partner Samsung for, it says, pre-emptively making the process to download the Epic Game Store on Android phones more difficult.