Epic Games Tuduh Google Again Does Not OBEY India's Antitrust Order

JAKARTA - Google has again had legal problems with Epic Games in Indian courts, for not complying with some part of the antitrust directive. Topping the tech giant didn't host a game company app store on the Play Store.

This is Epic Games' latest legal issue that disrupts Google's parent Alphabet Inc in India. Last month, after losing a legal battle with India's Competition Commission (CCI), Google said it would make changes to Android's business models.

The changes include stopping the practice of forcing device makers to pre-install Google applications such as YouTube or Chrome.

However, Epic Games said on February 9 with an appeals court in New Delhi, India, Google has not complied with part of CCI's directives.

Where he has to host third-party app stores and allow apps to be downloaded freely without using the Play Store, a practice called sideloading.

The popular video game maker Fortnite operates its own app store, Epic Games Store, which offers games and other apps for download.

"We are trying to join Indian developers at the Court to support CCI orders requiring Google to allow third-party app stores competing on the Google Play Store," said global public policy director at Epic Games, Bakari Middleton, to the Economic Times quoted Wednesday, February 15.

"Consumers should be able to choose how they access apps on their mobile devices and developers should be able to compete fairly in the mobile app ecosystem," he added.

Epic Games has recently been known against Apple and Google through the law for collecting a high app store commission of 30 percent. The company has 9.5 million users in India.

Google said in a statement it had submitted its compliance plan to CCI and continued to follow the legal process in India with respect.

In October, CCI stated Google was exploiting its dominant position on Android in India, where 97 percent of smartphones run on the operating system.

Google denies having made a mistake and is trying to stop the directive, warning the decision will limit the growth of the Android ecosystem.

India's Supreme Court ordered Google to follow CCI's directives but allowed it to continue to debate its case before the New Delhi appeals court where Epic filed the case.