Epic lawsuit claims Google paid Activision Blizzard $360 million to prevent Play Store rival

I. Bonifacic@igorbonifacicNovember 19, 2022 12:06 PMIn this report: lawsuit, antitrust, information, equipment, Epic Online games, activision blizzard, Google, Riot Video games, AlphabetMike Blake / reuters

Google paid out Activision Blizzard approximately $360 million to stop the troubled publisher from competing directly from the Play Retailer. The deal was one amongst at the very least 24 agreements the research large signed as aspect of its Venture Hug initiative, according to court documents seen by Reuters.

The financial aspects of Project Hug – later on identified as the Apps and Video games Velocity Method – are at the centre of the ongoing antitrust lawsuit in between Epic Games and Google. In 2021, the studio alleged Google had put in hundreds of thousands of bucks in incentives to retain massive application builders on the Play Retail outlet. This 7 days, a newly unredacted version of Epic’s criticism was built community, giving previously unknown information about the scope of the Applications and Game titles Velocity System.

According to the courtroom paperwork, Google also signed promotions with Nintendo, Ubisoft and Riot Online games. In the circumstance of Riot, Google compensated about $30 million to “stop” the League of Legends studio from pushing ahead with its have “in-house ‘app store’ initiatives,” Epic alleges. Riot Video games did not promptly react to Engadget’s ask for for remark.

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The lawsuit alleges Google realized signing with Activision would prompt the publisher to “abandon its plans to launch a competing app retail outlet,” a assert Activision disputes. “Google in no way questioned us, pressured us, or created us concur not to compete with Google Play,” an Activision spokesperson explained to Reuters. “Epic’s allegations are nonsense.”

Google accused Epic of “mischaracterizing” the intent of the Apps and Online games Velocity Program. “Plans like Undertaking Hug deliver incentives for builders to give advantages and early entry to Google Enjoy customers when they launch new or up to date content material it does not protect against developers from creating competing app outlets, as Epic falsely alleges,” a Google spokesperson explained to Engadget. “In actuality, the application is evidence that Google Engage in competes fairly with a lot of rivals for builders, who have a quantity of options for distributing their apps and digital written content.”

Update 1:03PM ET: Extra comment from Google. 

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