Why Epic’s Latest Win Is Big News for Mobile Games

Epic Games just earned a massive victory against Google - for the second time. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ affirmation that Google’s Play Store is a monopoly is massive news, and is the second case in a few months where we've seen mobile monopolies busted wide open - the evidence is pointing to a paradigm shift in mobile gaming.

TLDR:

• A US Appeals court upheld a lower court ruling stating Google must allow competing app stores to be listed in the Play Store.
• Anticompetitive practices, such as requiring developers to use Google Play Billing, must end.
• Epic already confirmed that the Epic Games Store will launch inside the Play Store.
• Google updated that they will appeal again, but mobile developers have received another major signal that the era of D2C is here to stay.

D2C opportunities have been appearing non-stop for mobile developers as court rulings and new laws both in the US and globally have struck down Apple’s, and then Google’s, policies in forcing developers to keep all mobile game distribution and transactions within their ecosystems. 

While Google has already confirmed that it will appeal again - most likely to the US Supreme Court - the current victory further cements that the tides are shifting. And they’re unlike revert to their previous direction any time soon. 

Developer Still Face Big Hurdles

Epic’s win against Google’s Play Store cements the belief of many developers that now is the time to embrace D2C monetization, and indeed those that strike first will likely see the biggest benefits. But transitioning to D2C webstores requires time, development, and payment expertise. 

Some of factors developers need to consider:

• Time: If you don’t already have a webshop or webstore set up, developing one yourself is costly in terms of time.
• Taxation and Billing: A major value-add of Google’s IAP is that they handled all the hassle of taxation, billing, and reporting.
• Support demands: With players buying directly from developers, questions about taxes, refunds, chargeback, and more suddenly need to be addressed by the studio.
• Global payments: For apps that appeal to a global market, understanding the payment needs and expectations of players globally is a massive undertaking

Where Tebex Can Help

For developers and studios that don’t have dedicated teams with expertise in taxation, fraud payment orchestration, or the capacity to build out a platform, Tebex comes with a D2C store ready to go, while also offering a global payment stack and our industry leading seller protection,. Launch a fully branded store and start taking payments directly  within hours.

All while completely owning the relationship with players and the full control of your pricing strategy. 

👉 Get started with Tebex today — or speak with our team about how to migrate your current payment setup.