Epic Games just beat Google in their antitrust lawsuit, and this is huge. What makes it even more interesting is that Epic lost their nearly identical case against Apple. The difference? The evidence showed Google was actually running anticompetitive schemes.

The jury found Google guilty of breaking competition laws with both their app store and billing services. This isn't about whether app store fees are too high - it's about Google actively suppressing competition through illegal practices.

Epic started this fight in 2020 when they modified Fortnite to accept direct payments, bypassing Google's payment system and their 30% cut. Google yanked Fortnite from the Play Store, just like Apple did. But here's where things diverged.

Epic couldn't prove Apple was a monopolist. With Google, they uncovered "Project Hug" - an internal program where Google literally paid companies like Samsung and game developers to keep prioritizing Google Play over alternative app stores. The jury saw that for what it was: paying competitors to not compete.

This verdict is a big deal for app developers who've been stuck paying Google's fees with no alternatives. The question now is what the remedy looks like. Will Google have to allow alternative payment systems? Alternative app stores? We'll see.

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