Apple and Google both faced major new developments this week in their years-long legal fights with Epic Games over how they handle competitng app stores and third-party payment systems.
Apple filed a motion Thursday in federal California court asking a judge to order the company and Epic into court-supervised settlement talks. 9to5Mac reported that Apple first approached Epic’s attorneys about settlement talks this week, but Epic rejected the offer. Apple is now asking the court to send both sides to a settlement conference.
The request came the same day Apple proposed a new fee structure for purchases made through links to payment systems outside the App Store. Under the proposal, Apple would charge a 15% commission on purchases from standard apps, 10% for apps in its Video Partner, News Partner and Mini Apps programs as well as subscription renewals, and 5% for apps in its Small Business Program. The company argued that it should still receive compensation for the tools, technology and other services it provides developers.
Epic quickly pushed back.
“Epic believes these fees are far outside of the bounds of the Ninth Circuit’s guidance on permissible fees, and we have roughly 60 days to file our opposition supported by expert witnesses,” the company wrote on a post on X.
Google gets a reprimand in its own app store case
Meanwhile, Google is facing scrutiny over how it is implementing a separate court order requiring it to open Google Play to competing app stores.
Aptoide recently became the first rival app store available for download directly through Google Play in the U.S. But during a court hearing Thursday, Epic demonstrated that Google was still putting several extra steps between users and those competing stores, according to The Verge.
Epic’s lawyers showed that searching Google Play for “store for apps” did not return any third-party app stores.
“That is not acceptable, that has to be fixed. I want every possible variation that’s even only 70 percent properly phrased,” said U.S. District Judge James Donato, who is overseeing the case.
Epic also showed that users had to press a “view” button before getting the option to install a third-party store. And even when users searched directly for Aptoide, Google Play showed a banner directing them to a dedicated third-party app store page rather than surfacing Aptoide like a normal app search result.
Donato ordered Google to address those issues too.
“Have it done by a week from today,” Donato said. “If there’s some problem with that, let me know.‘
The app store fight continues
Epic’s fight with Google and Apple dates back to 2020, when the company sued both tech giants after their blockbuster game Fortnite was removed from their app stores after Epic added its own direct payment option, bypassing their payment systems.
Epic largely lost its case against Apple, though some related litigation is still ongoing.
In its case against Google, a jury found in 2023 that Google had violated antitrust law with how it ran the Play Store. The following year, Donato ordered Google to make a number of major changes to the Play Store, including allowing rival app stores to be distributed through Google Play.
But rather than continue a lengthy appeals fight, Google announced in 2025 that it was proposing a settlement with Epic that would change some Play Store policies.
Last month, however, Google and Epic withdrew their proposed settlement after Donato expressed concerns that the proposed policies did go far enough.
Epic, Apple, and Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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