Google gave “Call of Duty” parent Activision-Blizzard a whopping $360 million in incentives in 2020 to launch its video game on the “Play” app store, according to lawyers in Epic Games’ antitrust lawsuit targeting Google’s Android app marketplace empire.
Lawyers for “Fortnite” maker Epic Games argue that Google relied on payments to game and app developers, known internally as “Project Hug,” as a part of an effort to “bribe and block” potential competitors from launching their very own app stores or otherwise difficult its monopoly.
The Epic Games trial is the second major US antitrust trial currently facing Google, which can be locked in a heated battle with the US Justice Department over its alleged monopoly over the net search market.
Moreover, Google is under federal scrutiny related to its digital promoting practices and its “Maps” business.
Epic attorney Lauren Moskowitz asserted Tuesday that the payments to Activision-Blizzard and other developers were a part of Google’s strategy to tamp down “noise” over its policy of taking a 30% cut of revenue from in-app purchases, Bloomberg reported.
Google has denied wrongdoing, asserting that the payments to developers were fair compensation in a competitive app market where rivals like Samsung and Apple.
The corporate has also noted that developers who received payments weren’t blocked from creating their very own app stores.
An unredacted version of Epic Games’ criticism against Google last yr revealed the Big Tech giant has secured no less than 24 deals with major app developers.
Other than the Activision-Blizzard payment, Google purportedly agreed to pay $30 million in 2020 to Riot Games, the maker of the favored “League of Legends” video game franchise.
A ten-person jury was shown a series of emails from 2019 through which a Google worker told Lawrence Koh, the previous director of games business development for Google Play, that Activision-Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick was upset in regards to the 30% revenue cut.
The jury also learned of internal projections that reportedly showed Google Play could took a $2.5 billion hit to its margins from 2019 to 2022 if it lost the participation of key developers.
Koh pushed back on Epic’s argument during Google’s cross-examination, stating that he had “never” bribed a developer to stop it from launching its own app store.
The ex-Google executive said the payments were meant to make sure that firms launched their games in Play with the identical quality standards because it did in other marketplaces.
Activision-Blizzard pushed back on Epic’s assertions on the trial.
“As we said in 2022, Google never asked us, pressured us, or made us agree not to compete with Google Play,” an Activision spokesperson told Bloomberg.
The Google v. Epic trial is anticipated to last roughly 4 weeks.
An analogous lawsuit filed by Epic against Apple led to a split-verdict that largely favored Apple, though each firms are appealing to the Supreme Court to intervene.
WIth Post wires