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| Google thought of buying Epic Games |
According to recently leaked court documents, Google was considering acquiring Epic Games as the two companies compete for the Android version of the game Fortnite.
Google has made some changes to the Epic Games antitrust complaint, which was reviewed by Epic Games and republished last month.
The complaint still leaves out many details about Google's dealings with certain companies. But the new details reflect internal discussions within the research giant about competition on the Android platform.
Epic Games claims that Google is considering distributing Fortnite through other channels to avoid store commissions, so it is under threat. He cited an internal Google document describing the Epic Games plan as an infection threatening Google.
Epic Games said: “Google wants to share its monopoly earnings with business partners to make sure they agree to exclude competition. The contagion presented by product efforts. I am considering buying some or all of Epic's games to end this threat.
Inside information discussing this possibility remains confidential, and the complaint does not indicate that the search giant contacted Epic Games about the plans.
He did not give a timetable for the discussion. However, this is likely to happen after Epic Games started releasing Fortnite on Android in 2018.
We didn't know the plan at the time," Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, said in a tweet.
Google thought of buying Epic Games
Epic Games also claimed that the search giant gave them a special offer to launch Fortnite through the Google Play Store.
According to the complaint, employees internally admitted that the difficulties Google imposed on consumers who wanted to download directly resulted in a poor user experience.
As noted by Epic Games in its complaint, Google is generally aware that the direct download barrier exists to protect its monopoly on app distribution and limits developers' ability to distribute apps.
Epic Games' lawsuit was recently linked to a major federal antitrust lawsuit against Google. A group of prosecutors has claimed that Android is much less open than the company claims.
They said the company deliberately created obstacles, including the functionality of Android phones and transactions with phone manufacturers. This is to restrict third party app stores and prevent apps from being downloaded directly.
The search giant denied the allegations. "Android's open ecosystem allows developers to distribute apps across multiple app stores," she said.
For game developers who decide to use our store, we have drafted guidelines to ensure the security of users' stores. Although Fortnite is still available on Android, we can no longer display it in our store because it violates our guidelines.