Epic Says Google Paid Activision Millions Not To Launch Rival App Store (cnet.com) 16
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNET: Fortnite developer Epic Games said Google paid the equivalent of $360 million to Call of Duty developer Activision Blizzard as part of a broad agreement that included a promise the gaming giant would not create a rival app store. The move, Epic said, helped solidify Google's hold on phones and tablets powered by its Android software. In the filing, newly unredacted Thursday, Epic said Google paid other developers in a similar way to Activision. Epic cited an agreement Google struck with Tencent, the Chinese company that owns League of Legends developer Riot Games, giving it about $30 million over one year. Like Activision, that money too was part of a larger agreement for Riot to maintain its Google-powered games and spend money promoting them as part of Android.
Google and Activision Blizzard both denied Epic's allegations about competing app stores. Google said the agreements are designed to provide incentives for developers to create apps for Google Play. "Epic is mischaracterizing business conversations," a Google spokesperson said in a statement. "It does not prevent developers from creating competing app stores, as Epic falsely alleges." Activision, for its part, said Google never "asked us, pressured us, or made us agree not to compete with Google Play." Activision is in the midst of being acquired by software giant Microsoft for $68.7 billion. [...] The filing is the latest allegation in Epic's ongoing lawsuit against Google, which it accuses of operating a monopoly with Google Play, which sells apps for Android. Epic's ongoing lawsuit is similar to another battle it's waging against Apple and its App Store over similar concerns of monopolistic practices. In both cases, Epic is pushing the companies to reduce the control they exert over their respective platforms, both in terms of how phone and tablet owners pay for apps and where to download them from.
It's unclear whether Epic's argument that Google paid developers to not compete will win in an eventual court case. Epic said in its complaint that "Google understood" the agreement would mean that Activision would "abandon its plans to launch a competing app store, and Google intended this result." But Armin Zerza, now Activision Blizzard's finance chief, said in one of the court filings that the company chose not to launch a rival app store because of the risk of failure, in addition to costs for development and marketing. When asked about entering a deal with Google that "accomplished your objectives," Zerza said that the Activision Blizzard board approved a deal with the Android maker because it "created multi-hundred-million dollars of value for us across multiple ecosystems." If Activision is ultimately purchased by Microsoft though, it may end up helping create an app store after all. Microsoft told regulators in October that it intends to build its own mobile app store to rival Google and Apple. Activision's deep library of popular games, including Candy Crush Saga and World of Warcraft, will be a key part of that effort. "Epic's allegations are nonsense," an Activision representative said in a statement sent to PC Gamer. "We can confirm that Google never asked us, pressured us, or made us agree not to compete with Google Play -- and we've already submitted documents and testimony that prove this."
Google and Activision Blizzard both denied Epic's allegations about competing app stores. Google said the agreements are designed to provide incentives for developers to create apps for Google Play. "Epic is mischaracterizing business conversations," a Google spokesperson said in a statement. "It does not prevent developers from creating competing app stores, as Epic falsely alleges." Activision, for its part, said Google never "asked us, pressured us, or made us agree not to compete with Google Play." Activision is in the midst of being acquired by software giant Microsoft for $68.7 billion. [...] The filing is the latest allegation in Epic's ongoing lawsuit against Google, which it accuses of operating a monopoly with Google Play, which sells apps for Android. Epic's ongoing lawsuit is similar to another battle it's waging against Apple and its App Store over similar concerns of monopolistic practices. In both cases, Epic is pushing the companies to reduce the control they exert over their respective platforms, both in terms of how phone and tablet owners pay for apps and where to download them from.
It's unclear whether Epic's argument that Google paid developers to not compete will win in an eventual court case. Epic said in its complaint that "Google understood" the agreement would mean that Activision would "abandon its plans to launch a competing app store, and Google intended this result." But Armin Zerza, now Activision Blizzard's finance chief, said in one of the court filings that the company chose not to launch a rival app store because of the risk of failure, in addition to costs for development and marketing. When asked about entering a deal with Google that "accomplished your objectives," Zerza said that the Activision Blizzard board approved a deal with the Android maker because it "created multi-hundred-million dollars of value for us across multiple ecosystems." If Activision is ultimately purchased by Microsoft though, it may end up helping create an app store after all. Microsoft told regulators in October that it intends to build its own mobile app store to rival Google and Apple. Activision's deep library of popular games, including Candy Crush Saga and World of Warcraft, will be a key part of that effort. "Epic's allegations are nonsense," an Activision representative said in a statement sent to PC Gamer. "We can confirm that Google never asked us, pressured us, or made us agree not to compete with Google Play -- and we've already submitted documents and testimony that prove this."
Re: (Score:2)
What would you expect them to say if it were not true though? If Activision can be a liar, so can Epic.
Re: SCO (Score:1)
The two companies are not even on the same ball park. SCO used better standards on their false claims than Epic.
Google App Store is a walled garden (Score:3)
But in this case the walls are made with stacks of dollar bills.
Re: (Score:2)
There is absolutely no walled garden on Android whatsoever.
From Android 12 on, third party app stores get the same abilities as the Play Store. Namely, they can do silent updates once you give them permission — this was the one and only thing they could not do previously without rooting. Android has literally always let you use competing app stores, and sideload as well.
Re: (Score:2)
Given how Epic games themselves give instructions on how to install Epic's own launcher and software on Android, neither of which are published in the Play Store, and those instructions are very simple, I think we can agree it's more of an ankle high curb around the garden.
Do tell... (Score:2)
Re: Do tell... (Score:1)
also on the side can be farmer whom the federal government pays not to grow things
Re: (Score:3)
Do you have a stock-hold of high profile games that Google would want you to maintain and promote on the Play store? I ask because that's what Google paid for, and there is no proof that Google paid Activision to NOT make a competing store. Neither the article nor Epic states how that conclusion was made, and both Google and Activision deny such an agreement. So....
Last I checked, it isn't considered anti-competitive for a platform provider to pay publishers to maintain or promote content on their platform
Re: (Score:2)
Who does Epic pay to keep their content off Steam?
Re:Do tell... (Score:4, Insightful)
Who does Epic pay to keep their content off Steam?
Shovelworks Studio, Sky 9 Games, Remedy Entertainment (this is a big one), Blue Byte, IllFonic, Ubisoft (another big one, 15 games and counting), Dragonrest Games, Outside Game Studio, Zen Studios, Manticore Games, The Bearded Ladies, Three Fields Entertainment, Red Hook Studios, Phoenix Labs, Deep Silver Dambuster Studios, The GD Studio, Saber Interactive, Coffee Stain North AB, Team Grit, Pine Scented, Square Enix (surely you've heard of these guys), North Beach Games, Wizards of the Coast, Glumberland, Beamdog, AOne Games, Brace Yourself Games, Robot Entertainment, Psyonix LLC, Nvizzio Creations, Deep Silver Volition, Ska Studios, Santa Ragione, Moving Pieces Interactive, Sloclap, Ironclad Games, Blind Squirrel Entertainment, Flying Wild Hog, Awaceb, Vicarious Visions, Gaming Minds Studios, HypeTrain Digital, and The Astronauts, ... just to name a few.
Now this isn't all of them either. This is only a list of developers of *current and confirmed future* exclusive titles. It doesn't include the likes of 4A Games since Metro Exodus was a Epic games exclusive pulled from steam in the past, and that exclusivity period has passed, same for 2K Games who pocketed $146million to not publish on Steam.
Also your question was a bit ambiguous. I chose (for my own sanity) to not include the likes of Mediatonic given Epic bought the studio outright, incidentally right after this money changing hands resulted in Fall Guys being removed from Steam
I also didn't include the many developers that Epic signed on with themselves as the publishing house, because frankly that is fair game since as primary publisher no one gets to tell you what to do, but that is technically also giving someone money while also preventing their games going to Steam.
FYI the list is as big as it is because by some estimates Epic is laying down close to half a billion dollars every year for this.
Re: (Score:2)
So, the same as Sony "paying" themselves to keep their games off rival consoles?
Microsoft "paying" Bungie to keep Halo off PlayStation?
Who said Ubisoft doesn't have Steam games? Don't they make Assassins Creed, Farcry, Tom Clancy, etc? All available on Steam.
Checking a few others in your list:
https://www.terribleposture.co... [terribleposture.com] aka Shovelworks Studio, has games on Steam
https://sfhgame.com/ [sfhgame.com] , the only PC game from Sky 9 Games, also available on Steam, not available from Epic
I checked "Control" from Remedy Ente
Epic is Sounding Really Desperate at This Point (Score:2)
Why would Google need to collude with ActivisionBlizzard to not create a competing app store? In case Epic hasn't noticed, ActivisionBlizzard HAS one already. And it can be used to bypass Google and Apple for at least one mobile game, HearthStone. I can buy cards from within the PC Client, the BattleNet client, or the web front end. And ActivisionBlizzard gets all the money without Google or Apple being able to take a cut like they would if I did it from within the Android/iOS client. Diablo Immortal will s
The problem being...? (Score:2)
The US and the EU pay farmers not to grow certain crops, it's a widely used method and not illegal at all.
Epic Fail (Score:1)
I'm getting real tired of this shithole company. They have ONE good product: Unreal Engine and the Unreal series of games to go with it. That's it. Tim Sweeney is beyond stupid on anything that isn't that. They rest of their products all suck, for one reason or another. Their launcher/store? Terrible. Their attempt to turn FortNite into a metaverse of some kind? Asinine. Their feuds with Apple and Google? Waste of time.
Is Valve a great company for small devs? No. Is Epic any better? Superficially, maybe. Is