Google is begrudgingly complying with the district court’s order by adjusting its policies—in the U.S. only.
If you pay attention to gaming news at all, you’ve almost assuredly heard by now that Epic Games won its case against Google last year. Google still wants to take the case to the Supreme Court, but for now, it has to abide by the US District Court and Judge James Donato’s judgment, where they decided that Google had engaged in unlawful anti-competitive behavior. Google has now implemented the first of its policy changes demanded by the court in compliance with the judgment.
Posting to the Play Console Help section of its Android Developer Help Center, under “Tax, compliance, & regional requirements”, Google dropped “an update regarding Google Play’s policies for developers serving users in the US.” The ultimate outcome is basically this: Google cannot restrict developers from advising users about alternative stores and the pricing on those stores, and it also can’t require developers to use Google Play Billing for apps on the Google Play store. You can read the full statements from Google below:To ensure compliance with the injunction as of October 29, 2025, we have made the following changes for apps when serving users in the United States:Google will not prohibit a developer from communicating with users about the availability or pricing of an app outside the Google Play Store, and will not prohibit a developer from providing a link to download the app outside the Google Play Store or link to transactions.
