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Google, Epic Games unveil settlement plan in antitrust case

Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Epic Games Inc. unveiled a proposed settlement Wednesday aimed at ending their long-standing antitrust dispute.

Under the agreement, Google would share its Play Store app catalog with competitors and permit alternative app stores on Android devices once registered.

In a court filing, Google and Epic stated that their new proposal addresses issues highlighted by Judge James Donato with the November 2025 settlement.

After a 2023 jury found that Google’s Android policies violated antitrust law, Donato issued an injunction requiring Google to make its app catalog accessible to rival app stores to support competition.

The injunction, later upheld by a federal appeals court, also prohibited Google from giving preferential treatment to its own services on Android devices and mandated that mobile app developers be allowed to direct users to lower-cost payment options outside the Play Store.

Google and Epic later agreed to a settlement that would have removed the catalog-sharing requirement, prompting Judge Donato at a January hearing to warn that the deal appeared to be a “sweetheart arrangement” favoring Google.