A new report from the Reuters news agency provides juicy details about the lawsuit that Epic Games, among others, first filed against Google back in 2020. Thus, the Internet giant is said to have made at least 24 deals with major app developers to prohibit them from offering their own app store, which could be in competition with the Google Play Store.
Google Play Store: Google pays for exclusivity
As reported by news agency Reuters, Google is said to have paid deeply for not allowing other app developers to offer their own store on Android devices. Epic Games had already filed a lawsuit in 2020, accusing Google of anti-competitive practices related to its own Play Store, among other things.
New juicy details have now emerged in the report. According to the report, Google is said to have made deals worth millions with at least 24 major app developers and providers so that they would not offer their own app stores on Android.
As part of Google’s “Project Hug”, the Internet giant is said to have paid horrendous sums in order not to get into the same situation again as in the case of Epic Games and Fortnite. Thus, Reuters reports payments to Nintendo, EA, Activision Blizzard or Riot Games, among others.
360 million US dollars
Especially the deal with Activision Blizzard is put in the message in the foreground. Here, funds amounting to 360 million US dollars over a period of three years are said to have been decided in order to offer games of the company further in the Play Store.
Riot Games (League of Legends, Legends of Runeterra and many more) is also said to have received millions of dollars in funding, with $30 million being mentioned. With the aim of stopping the plans for its own app store on Android.
The Verge reports a conversation between Karen Aviram Beatty, Google’s managing director of global partnerships, and Armin Zerza, CEO of Blizzard Entertainment at the relevant time, about the deal.
However, Joe Christinat, spokesman for Activision Blizzard states in a statement that Google never asked or pressured the company not to offer a competitor to the Play Store, “Epic’s accusations are nonsense,” Christinat said. The trial start, which will take the whole matter to the chest, currently has no final date. Presumably, the U.S. courts are likely to deal with the issue in early 2023.
