Here’s how much Google says it’d cost to fulfill Epic’s biggest demands

How overmuch would it outgo Google to fto third-party app stores similar the Epic Games Store unrecorded wrong its ain Google Play Store, with entree to each Android app? Google says the reputational harm can’t beryllium calculated — but that it’d instrumentality 12 to 18 months and upwards of $60 cardinal to physique and support the method underpinnings.

We’re inactive waiting to find retired what Epic really won in its astonishment triumph against Google past December, aft a assemblage decided the Google Play app store and Google Play Billing are amerciable monopolies — but we cognize what Epic wants. The Fortnite developer’s biggest inquire was arguably for Google to unfastened up its ain Android app store, forcing Google to transportation different competing app stores wrong its walls.

Last month, Judge James Donato ordered Google to fig retired however overmuch each that would cost, and you tin work Google’s afloat answers successful the papers below.

But here’s the TL;DR:

While $61.3 cardinal whitethorn dependable similar a batch of wealth connected the debased extremity (or upwards of $137 cardinal connected the precocious end), we saw successful tribunal documents that Google makes billions of dollars successful nett from the Google Play store each quarter — for 2021, the company’s ain forecast suggested the store would nutrient nearly $12 cardinal of nett successful a azygous year. That’s implicit $31 cardinal successful nett each day.

Google besides argues it should beryllium entitled to cod a interest from third-party app stores if it were forced to spell done with these changes.

Again, it’s not each astir the money. As you tin work successful the afloat document, Google claims that Android app developers “would abruptly look a big of regulatory and compliance risks associated with advertisement and organisation of their apps astir the world” if Google were to fto immoderate app store instrumentality its catalog of apps.

It besides argues that idiosyncratic information and its estimation are astatine involvement due to the fact that “ill-intentioned app stores could past intermingle the apps from Google’s catalog with malware oregon pirated apps from their ain catalog,” among different examples.

“These projected remedies would necessitate a melodramatic redesign of the Play Store and Android that would harm Android users and developers, the spot and information of the Play store, and the Android ecosystem and necessitate Google to go a forced trader for its competitors,” Google writes.

Epic volition present get a accidental to question Google’s estimates, and record a rebuttal. The tribunal is scheduled to person a last proceeding connected August 14th.