Google on Thursday failed to score a court victory, as a federal appeals court judge rejected an appeal in the ongoing Epic Games v. Google case, tallying another victory for Epic Games, reports Reuters.
The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a unanimous ruling, rejected claims from Google that the trial judge made legal errors in the antitrust case that unfairly benefited “Fortnite” maker Epic Games, which filed the lawsuit in 2020.
The record in Epic’s lawsuit was “replete with evidence that Google’s anticompetitive conduct entrenched its dominance,” wrote Circuit Judge M. Margaret McKeown, joined by Circuit Judges Danielle Forrest and Gabriel Sanchez.
This means Google will be required to implement Play Store changes, allowing Android users to download rival app stores from the Play Store. Google will also be required to provide the Play app catalog to competitors.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney bragged online that his company had scored a “total victory” in the appeal.
Thanks to the verdict, the Epic Games Store for Android will be coming to the Google Play Store! It's already available worldwide from our web site, https://t.co/f77ZSrBMGd.
Epic Games Store for PC already carries several other PC stores (https://t.co/92elnB3IGv, GOG Galaxy). https://t.co/4ndkMmhLUX
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) July 31, 2025
While Sweeney says that the Epic Games Store for Android will be coming to the Google Play Store, Google has plans for another appeal.
Epic Games first filed suit against Google in 2020, right around the time the game publisher also sued Apple over much the same issues. In 2023, a jury unanimously agreed that Google was operating an app store monopoly and charging developers outrageous fees. Google appealed, which led to Thursday’s loss in court.
