Google’s CEO is about to drop into the Fortnite trial

theverge.com:

By Sean Hollister, a senior editor and founding member of The Verge who covers gadgets, games, and toys. He spent 15 years editing the likes of CNET, Gizmodo, and Engadget.

We have spent five days in a San Francisco courtroom watching witness after witness in the Epic v. Google trial. We’ve heard a lot about Google’s app store dealings, mostly from people who aren’t widely known to outsiders. But today, November 14th, we’re expecting to hear from Google CEO Sundar Pichai as he defends Google’s Android empire against antitrust claims from the publisher of megahit game Fortnite.

The future of Google’s app store is at stakein a lawsuit by Fortnite publisher Epic Games. Epic sued Google in 2020 after a fight over in-app purchase fees, claiming the Android operating system’s Google Play Store constituted an unlawful monopoly — while Google says its demands would damage Android’s ability to offer a secure user experience and compete with Apple’s iOS.

Precisely 1,188 days ago, Epic sprung a legal trap and accused both Apple and Google of creating illegal monopolies with their respective app stores. It’s a fight that could shape the future of the Play Store, particularly if Epic gets its way.

I’ll be bringing you Pichai’s testimony live from the courtroom right here. Before it starts, here’s a quick guide to the trial so far — including the big themes we’ll probably see in play today.

Epic is making its case first in the trial, and its attorneys get first dibs on questioning the witnesses it calls. It typically spends this time making Google look bad by highlighting some seemingly incriminating detail — like how Google offered Epic $147 million to launch Fortnite on the Play Store because it feared a “contagion risk” if top game