Information: A Tentative Settlement in Google Play Direct-to-Consumer Antitrust Lawsuit Posted -
On the Tuesday of September. 6, an elusive agreement was reached on an action brought by 37 U.S. states versus Alphabet's Google.
These are key information about the case and what it could have for those who sell a digital product via Google's U.S. Play Store.
What's the Google antitrust lawsuit?
In Utah v. Google, 37 attorneys general claim that Google employs unconstitutional, anti-competitive, or unfair methods which limit competition, raise prices and restrict choices and choices, which all affect consumers who purchase games or other digital products on the Google Play store.
The suit was filed by Utah Attorney General Sean D. Reyes, the lawsuit focuses on "exclusionary actions relating to Google Play Store for Android," with actions such as shutting down other app distribution channels and requiring the use of Google Billing (with up to 30% commission for Google).
The suit is co-led by AGs who are located in New York, North Carolina, and Tennessee as well as the 37 AGs comprise 21 million customers involved in the lawsuit.
What was the latest development during the Google antitrust suit?
A settlement has been made public However, the specifics have not been released. The court has to decide whether to approve the settlement. However, those who are part of the agreement (including Utah's AG) have asked for the trial on Nov. 6 trial not be held.
Google has denied any wrongdoing, and had not commented regarding this latest development.
There is no current timeline for when information are expected to be made public, however as it's an action class-wide it is likely that the information are expected to be public after the case is fully settled.
What could it mean for game developers and app developers in the US or otherwise?
If the conditions of the agreement allow for easing the current Play Store restrictions and the obligation to utilize Google Billing which is a payment method, it could be a major victory for game and app developers seeking to broaden the way they promote their apps adopting cheaper, direct-to-consumer payment options similar to .
According to an announcement found on Utah Attorney General Sean D. Reyes' website the 30% Google commission "is much higher than the amount users would be paying when they were able to select the Google's rival instead." The lawsuit claims Google did not keep its promise to maintain Android "open open source" in order that device manufacturers and app developers could create and create apps with no restrictions.
The full implications until the terms of the settlement are announced.
What is it about Apple?
Perhaps you're aware of Epic Games' case against Apple concerning similar concerns. After Epic offered Fortnite players to make use of its own payment system, giving them discounts and other discounts, both Apple as well as Google have removed Fortnite from their apps stores. Epic later sued Apple as well as Google in separate cases.
The last month of April, a 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, but they also backed a lower court's ruling in favor of Epic and ruled that Apple's ban on permitting app developers to send customers to alternatives to App Store payments violated the state's Unfair Competition Law.
Epic requested for the U.S. Supreme court to permit the injunction to be effective and to force Apple to modify the App Store's practices however Apple is still appealing the decision. However, in August the SCOTUS ruled against Epic's petition which suggested that any modifications may not take effect until appeals have been finalized.
Epic is not a part in the Utah v. Google case, since they're in their own legal case (with Match Group) against Google. However, Epic's Chief Executive Tim Sweeney posted on the social networks the following day "If Google is ending its payments monopoly and not imposing a Google Tax on third party transactions, then we'll settle and be Google's friend in their new era."
What can it do to assist game designers with direct-to-consumer payment and subscriptions?
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More Information
The Utah Attorney General's website contains other resources related to the matter.