Epic lawsuit claims Google paid Activision Blizzard $360 million to stop Play Retailer rival

Google paid Activision Blizzard roughly $360 million to stop the troubled writer from allegedly competing immediately in opposition to the Play Retailer. The deal was one amongst not less than 24 agreements the search large signed as a part of its Challenge Hug initiative, in keeping with court docket paperwork seen by Reuters.

The monetary particulars of Challenge Hug – later generally known as the Apps and Video games Velocity Program – are on the heart of the continuing antitrust lawsuit between Epic Video games and Google. In 2021, the studio alleged Google had spent thousands and thousands of {dollars} in incentives to maintain large app builders on the Play Retailer. This week, a newly unredacted model of Epic’s grievance was made public, offering beforehand unknown particulars in regards to the scope of the Apps and Video games Velocity Program.

In line with the court docket paperwork, Google additionally signed offers with Nintendo, Ubisoft and Riot Video games. Within the case of Riot, Google paid about $30 million to “cease” the League of Legends studio from pushing ahead with its personal “in-house ‘app retailer’ efforts,” Epic alleges. Riot Video games didn’t instantly reply to Engadget’s request for remark.

The lawsuit alleges Google knew signing with Activision would immediate the writer to “abandon its plans to launch a competing app retailer,” a declare Activision disputes. “Google by no means requested us, pressured us, or made us agree to not compete with Google Play,” an Activision spokesperson advised Reuters. “Epic’s allegations are nonsense.”

Google accused Epic of “mischaracterizing” the intent of the Apps and Video games Velocity Program. “Packages like Challenge Hug present incentives for builders to offer advantages and early entry to Google Play customers after they launch new or up to date content material; it doesn’t stop builders from creating competing app shops, as Epic falsely alleges,” a Google spokesperson advised Engadget. “The truth is, this system is proof that Google Play competes pretty with quite a few rivals for builders, who’ve a variety of decisions for distributing their apps and digital content material.”

Replace 1:03PM ET: Added remark from Google.