Gamingdeputy reported on May 23 that last month, Epic urged a California judge to force Google to open its Play Store app store to embrace more intense competition. In response, Google first asked the court to reject the request, saying that the move would make it “almost impossible” for the company to compete.
Today, Google released another blog, denounced Epic’s behavior in six major aspects, emphasizing that “Epic’s proposal is bad for everyone but itself“. Gamingdeputy translated the original text from Google as follows:
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Last month, Epic Games asked a U.S. federal court toAndroidand the Google Play App Store to implement harmful and unwarranted tweaks that will harm the privacy, security, and overall experience of consumers, developers, and device manufacturers. Not only do Epic’s demands go well beyond the scope of recent U.S. trial decisions (which we will contest), they are also unreasonable due to settlements we reached last year with state attorneys general from every state and multiple territories. necessary.
We recently shared with the court why we strongly oppose Epic's proposal — and at a hearing later this week, economic experts will further highlight the reasons why Epic's proposed remedies are problematic and unnecessary. This includes:
Epic's proposal would put Android users at security risk on third-party app stores: Epic’s proposal removes Google’s ability to implement trust and security measures to keep Android users safe. Unlike iOS,Android Allow OEMs to pre-install third-party app stores, and allow users to download other app stores directly. To provide choice while maintaining a better user experience, Android takes common-sense measures to protect user security and privacy — measures that would no longer be enforceable if this proposal passes.
Epic’s proposal harms Android users’ privacy: Under Epic's proposal, Google would be forced to tell all third-party app stores “what apps users have installed through Google Play,” which would expose users' personal app usage, including topics such as religion, politics, or health, for Epic to gain access to. profit. This is a clear violation of user privacy.
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Epic's proposal makes users more vulnerable to malicious apps: Unlike iOS, Android users have the option to sideload apps, meaning they can install them directly from the developer's website without going through an app store. We've implemented important measures to ensure that users enjoy app choice while still being protected. However, Epic’s proposal would force Google to remove these measures, severely impairing our ability to protect users from potentially malicious apps.
Epic’s proposal reduces developer control over app distribution: Developers have many app distribution channels on Android, but when they choose to use Google Play they know the trust and security rules that keep the platform secure. However, Epic wants to force all other developers to distribute their intellectual property content through multiple channels without their consent. Under the proposal, developers might not be aware that their apps have appeared in third-party stores that don’t have Google’s user protections in place, or in stores that they don’t want to be associated with.
Epic's proposal blocks a key source of revenue for developers: As part of the state settlement, we've agreed not to enter into broad exclusivity agreements with developers, but Epic wants to completely limit Google's ability to offer developers any financial incentives, even on a non-exclusive and app-by-app basis. Epic’s proposed remedies would also prevent Google from working with developers to offer any exclusive content through apps in the Play Store, but this is a very common tactic to attract users and grow business, and Epic is trying to restrict all development this important business opportunity for investors.
Epic's proposal would also hurt device manufacturers: As part of the state attorneys general settlement, we can ensure that any app store is free to compete on Android devices, but Epic's proposal would exclude Google Play from that process, thereby weakening competition and enabling rival app stores to bid at lower prices (referring to pre-installed apps on OEM devices), which would reduce the revenue that OEMs can earn from pre-installing and pre-installing apps on devices, thereby making things worse for OEMs that already have little revenue and may lead to higher prices on consumer terminals.
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“Google asks the court to reject Epic's request to “open the Play Store,” saying the move makes it “almost impossible” for the company to compete.”