Google has been ordered by a US court to make a series of major changes to its Google Play store app that will see its operating system opened to rival app developers and stores.

US District Judge James Donato issued his final rulings in a case brought by Fortnite creator Epic Games against Google, after a jury found late last year that Google was operating its app store as an illegal monopoly.

Under the changes, Google will be required to give Android users more options for where to download apps on the platform and how to make payments within them.

The tech giant has been ordered to distribute other app stores within Google Play and ensure these stores have full access to all apps on Google’s own stores, including its own, unless the developers individually opt out from this.

With the ruling, the judge has agreed with many of Epic’s key demands.

The changes will be required to be in force from the start of November and will have to remain in place until November 2027.

This will provide Google’s rivals a “fighting chance of getting off the ground”, the judge said.

“The provisions are designed to level the playing field for the entry and growth of rivals, without burdening Google excessively,” Donato said in the ruling.

“As competition comes into play and the network effects that Google Play unfairly enjoys are abated, Google should not be unduly constrained as a competitor.”

A level playing field

Under the ruling, Google will also have to stop mandating its own Google Play billing for apps distributed on its app store and allow developers to tell their users about other ways to make in-app purchases.

Google will also have to allow developers to provide links for ways to download their apps outside of the Play store and set their own prices for their apps.

It will no longer be allowed to share any app revenue with “any person or entity that distributes Android apps” or offer money or perks to developers to launch their apps on the Google app store.

This is on the back of Epic successfully arguing to the jury that Google has in place several deals with app developers that make it virtually impossible for rival app stores to be established.

Despite these requirements, Google will be allowed to “take reasonable measures” that are “strictly necessary and narrowly tailored” and “comparable” to how it currently polices its own store.

Google has already flagged that it will appeal this ruling and push for a pause in their enforcement in the interim.

“We will appeal and ask the courts to pause implementing the remedies to maintain a consistent and safe experience for users and developers as the legal process moves forward,” Google vice-president, regulatory affairs Lee-Anne Mulholland said in a blog post.

“Ultimately, while these changes presumably satisfy Epic, they will cause a range of unintended consequences that will harm American consumers, developers and device makers.”

A four-year legal battle

The legal battles stem from Apple removing Epic’s game Fortnite from its app store in 2020 after the company made changes to ignore Apple’s App Store payment system that it requires developers to use for in-app purchases.

Epic launched lawsuits against Apple and Google on the same day, and later launched a similar case in Australia.

Epic lost nine of its 10 allegations against Apple in a case decided by a jury, but won the judge-only case against Google where it argued the tech giant “suppresses innovation and choice” through a “web of secretive, anti-competitive agreements”.

Apple was also recently ordered to make significant changes to its own app store in order to give up some control over this platform under the European Union’s Digital Markets Act.