It's been a bad month for Google in the courtroom, but today ended with some good news for the company. A federal judge granted Google a stay in its legal battle with Epic games, meaning Google won't have to open up its Play Store to third parties, at least for now.

That means Google may not have to open up its Play Store for years, if at all, while it appeals the verdict. In December, a jury unanimously decided that Google’s Android app store, the Play Store, had become an illegal monopoly, though Google is now appealing that jury verdict as well as the court’s order.

While Android has always allowed users to sideload applications from other sources, Google was found to have used its market power to kneecap all recent attempts to build third-party app stores. Judge James Donato says Google must undertake major efforts to address this behavior that could remake the mobile app landscape.

A federal judge has ordered Google to open its Android app store to competition, finding the tech giant had maintained an illegal monopoly that expanded its internet empire.

For three years, Google will have to let third-party Android app stores access the Google Play Store's catalog of apps "so that they may offer the Play Store apps to users," said the injunction issued by US District Judge James Donato of the Northern District of California.

Xbox President Sarah Bond announced that players will soon be able to play and purchase Xbox games directly from the Xbox App on Android.

The now-delayed order would have forced Google to make sweeping changes to its Play Store for Android smartphones starting Nov. 1.

Judge James Donato, who had previously ruled that Googles Android app store constituted an illegal monopoly, agreed to push back the deadline for enforcing significant changes to its rules. This delay will give time for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to review Googles request for a longer-term stay.

The latest development is part of an ongoing antitrust lawsuit filed by Epic Games, the developer of "Fortnite." Google had recently approached the California federal court, seeki