Google finally loses court case against Epic Games, Android will change soon

By: Viktor Tsyrfa | 02.08.2025, 10:39

The US Court of Appeals (9th Circuit) fully upheld the 2023 verdict that recognised Google as a monopolist in the field of Android applications and payments through the Google Play Store. Now Google is obliged to make significant changes to the system. The changes will be stretched over time, some of them should take effect in three weeks, and some will stretch for three years from the start of the trial - until 1 November 2027.

Changes that will take place within three weeks

Google is now banned:

  • Pay device manufacturers a portion of the profits from sales through the Play Store,
  • Require the installation of the Play Store, require the icon to be placed in a certain place
  • Sign exclusive contracts with developers to publish only in the Play Store
  • Require the use of Play Billing as the only transaction scheme
  • Restrict developers from sharing information about other payment methods or external download links outside of the Play Store

What will change in 2026-2027

Epic Games and other competitors will be able to launch their stores (e.g. Epic Games Store) directly on the Play Store. No root rights or other complex manipulations will be required to install them. This update requires changes to the system architecture, so Google has asked for more time to implement it. Most likely, this update will affect mainly models of this and next years, because many smartphone models will no longer receive updates, and the law does not oblige Google to update devices that are no longer supported.

Bottom line.

It seems that this is final. Before that, Apple lost a similar lawsuit, but it took place in the European Union and Apple simply releases a separate firmware for the EU. There is a possibility that Google may do the same, introducing changes only for the US, but it looks more like there are fundamental changes that will sooner or later become global. The crusade launched by the Epic Games Store has been successful, and the entire industry is slowly changing.