Small developers may be winners after a judge's ruling in the long legal battle between Epic Games and Google. The tech giant must allow consumers more choices on its app store.

A federal judge ruled Monday that Google must open the Play Store to rival third-party Android app stores. U.S. District Judge James Donato ordered the tech giant to allow for the distribution of third-party app stores and platforms through its own Android app store for a period of three years.

Google has been ordered to open up its app store to rivals following a major court case in the US. Last year, a federal judge ruled the tech giant was running an illegal monopoly in how it controlled the distribution of apps on its Android operating system and via the Google Play Store.