Epic Claims Google Paid Activision, Others Huge Sums to Not Compete With Play Store

Google has been paying publishers not to compete with the Play Store, according to a new filing in Epic’s ongoing legal offensive. In an unredacted copy of Epic’s lawsuit against Google, the Fortnite maker claims that Google has paid off other companies that are exploring the possibility of launching an alternative app store. Epic calls this behavior anti-competitive, but naturally, Google disagrees.

The unredacted documents discuss several instances of Google paying publishers as part of “Project Hug.” This initiative was mentioned in previous versions of the filing but without much detail. The payments included cash for posting content to YouTube, which most brands do anyway, as well as credits toward Google ads and cloud services. According to Reuters, Epic says that Google paid $30 million to Riot Games, the maker of League of Legends, following news that the publisher was considering an in-house app store. Activision Blizzard also saw a big payday when it was considering its own mobile game store. Google agreed to partner with the company and pay $360 million over three years.

Google says this is a mischaracterization of its activities, and these deals to keep developers happy with its services are evidence of healthy competition. Google cannot, however, deny that a major app store competitor on Android would eat into its bottom line. Google has consistently leaned on device makers to only bundle the Play Store, and its own analysis predicted billions in losses if the Play Store was no longer the dominant way to get apps on Android.

Epic’s lawsuit against Apple took centerstage since the initial filing, but Fornite was kicked out of the Play Store just as swiftly as it was from the App Store. Epic began its crusade against high developer fees in 2020, and there has been some movement since then, with both Google and Apple lowering the traditional 30 percent cut they took for every sale. However, Epic mostly lost its case against Apple, though there is still one minor matter under appeal.

Apple and Google take wildly different approaches to managing apps on their respective mobile platforms. Apple locks down the iPhone, preventing anyone from installing apps from outside its walled garden. Circumventing that restriction requires a “jailbreaking” hack, which is much harder to do these days. On Android, you can install apps from outside the Play Store (known as sideloading) by toggling a single setting. However, Epic contends Google is still behaving in an anti-competitive manner by paying publishers to not launch alternative stores where people might be able to get those apps.

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