Published: 15:00, May 3, 2024 | Updated: 18:15, May 3, 2024
Google defends app store, fighting Epic Games' bid for major reforms
By Reuters
Fortnite V-Bucks are offered for sale at a video game retailer on Dec 19, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois. (PHOTO / AFP)

Google has asked a US judge not to impose sweeping changes to the Alphabet unit's app store Play that were proposed by Fortnite maker Epic Games in the companies' closely-watched antitrust fight.

Google made its filing late on Thursday in San Francisco federal court, where Epic last year persuaded a jury that the tech giant unlawfully stifled competition with its controls over apps downloads on Android devices and payments to developers for in-app transactions.

Epic's proposal "would make it nearly impossible for Google to compete", Google's filing said.

Epic Games in March asked US District Judge James Donato in San Francisco to force Google to make it easier for users to download apps from other sources and to allow developers more flexibility in offering and charging for purchases

The gaming company in March asked US District Judge James Donato in San Francisco to force Google to make it easier for users to download apps from other sources and to allow developers more flexibility in offering and charging for purchases.

The Cary, North Carolina-based company also said it should be allowed to bring its Epic Games Store to Android "without delays and barriers".

ALSO READ: Epic Games wins antitrust case against Google over Play store

A hearing on the proposed injunction is scheduled for May 23.

Epic did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Wilson White, Google's head of government affairs and public policy, said in a statement that "Epic’s demands would harm the privacy, security, and overall experience of consumers, developers, and device manufacturers."

An illustration picture taken on April 21, 2022 in Moscow shows a smart phone screen bearing the Google Play store application logo. (PHOTO / AFP)

In its filing, Google said a related Play store settlement with states and consumers made Epic's bid for an injunction unnecessary. The remedies in that settlement, Google said, "fully address" the alleged anticompetitive conduct Epic presented at trial.

In December, Google agreed to pay $700 million to resolve the states' case and, among other reforms, will allow more alternative billing options for in-app purchases.

READ MORE: Meta, Microsoft, X, Match join Epic Games' battle against Apple

In another even more far-reaching antitrust case, Google on Thursday squared off for closing trial arguments with the Justice Department and a group of states in a Washington DC courtroom over claims that it unfairly dominates the market for mobile web search.