From damning internal documents to missing and deleted evidence, the company seemed to take every chance it could to present itself as the very archetype of a powerful monopolist sneakily trying to muddy the truth, experts said. Google was also repeatedly caught misbehaving. Crucially, they said, a jury rather than a judge decided the Google case, meaning the gaming company’s underdog narrative likely held more sway. Differing trial circumstances also likely steered Epic v Google in a different direction than Apple’s trial.

Apple’s more closed-off app ecosystem actually made it less susceptible to antitrust enforcement, they argued. So why did a jury find that Google held a monopoly but Apple didn’t?Īntitrust attorneys and other legal experts pointed to several key differences in the two trials. When it comes to exclusivity, Apple has become synonymous with “walled garden” in the public imagination. Google has taken great pains to appear more open than Apple, licensing the Android operating system to third parties like Samsung and allowing users to install apps via other methods than the Play store. Both companies briefly banned Fortnite from their app stores in response. Epic had tried to implement a payment system within Fortnite in 2020 that would have bypassed Google and Apple.

Both cases highlighted app developers’ longstanding resentment of Google and Apple’s in-app purchasing fees, which can top out at 30%. The gaming company alleged the iPhone maker also operated an illegal monopoly via the App Store a judge ruled against Epic in September 2021.

The verdict surprised many observers because Epic had lost a very similar battle with Apple two years ago.

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