Total Victory for Epic Games as Supreme Court Declines to Intervene for Google

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to intervene in Epic v. Google, delivering yet another win to Epic Games. Google is now legally required to open up its Play Store on Android to third-party stores and payment systems, lowering fees for everyone and giving customers on that platform more choices.

“The Supreme Court has thrown out Google’s stay request,” Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney tweeted. “Starting October 22, developers will be legally entitled to steer US Google Play users to out-of-app payments without fees, scare screens, and friction – same as Apple App Store users in the US!”

Google petitioned the Supreme Court in late September after a spectacular series of court losses dating back to its historic antitrust loss against game maker Epic Games in December 2023. It was seeking a stay to the injunction forcing it to open up the Play Store and the Android app ecosystem so that it could evaluate the lawfulness of what Google says is an “unprecedented” action.

The Court denied the request without explanation.

Now, Google has until October 22 to meet its legal requirements. Which are:

• Open up the Google Play Store to rival app stores and provide them with its full catalogs of apps and games
• Allow developers to use the in-app payment system of their choice
• Allow developers to communicate alternative stores and payment systems
• Stop punishing those developers who choose to distribute their apps and games in other Android-based app stores
• Stop punishing companies that wish to create an app store for Android
• Halt bundling requirements for hardware makers that wish to install other app stores on their Android devices
• Stop charging developers fees on products and services sold through other stores or payment systems

These requirements will be in effect for three years, though some of the provisions won’t go into effect until mid-2026.