Google allegedly paid game developers to block Play Store competition

Google allegedly agreed to pay Activision $360 million over three years to not compete with the Play Store

The deal between Google and Activision was made after the latter allegedly told Google that it was starting its own app store. The information was discovered in an unredacted version of lawsuit filed by Fortnite developer Epic Games back in 2020. Epic stated that Google knew paying off Activision “effectively ensured that (Activision) would abandon its plans to launch a competing app store.” Epic goes on to say that the deal between Activision and Google lowers the quality of service in the Play Store while increasing prices.

The court filing also said that Google paid Riot Games, a unit of China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd., a sum of $30 million over a one-year period in order to prevent the gaming company from competing with the Play Store. Epic’s two-year old suit accuses Google of using anti-competitive behavior to run the Play Store.

Here’s the major difference between the App Store and the Play Store

Google was supposedly concerned because its own forecasts showed that it would lose billions in app sales if game developers ended up fleeing the Play Store for competing storefronts. Other big-name developers reportedly signed such deals with Google to receive payments while deciding not to compete with the Play Store; this list include Nintendo, Ubisoft, meditation app Calm, and education app company Age of Learning.

If there is a major difference between Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store in terms of anti-competitive behavior, it’s that Google allows users to sideload apps. In this case, Google allows Android users to download apps from third-party app stores. Apple does not allow those using an iPhone or iPad to sideload any apps. While this is good for security, it does give Apple complete control over the apps that are installed on its devices, unlike Google.