There was once a time when Epic Games joined app stores, offering Fortnite to the mobile, and Google recently attested to its attempt to "bribe" the game developer to keep the battle royale on its Play Store. However, it was an unsuccessful one as Epic resisted the massive offer by the internet company, further making its stand against the infamous 30 percent cut of the platform.
As per the different statements amidst the Google v Epic Games trial, the Big Tech company feared the 'contagion effect' of Fortnite's pullout from the platform.
Google Attempted to 'Bribe' Epic Games to Keep Fortnite
The Verge claimed that earlier today, Google's vice president of Play partnerships, Purnima Kochikar, confirmed in court that the Big Tech company attempted to pay Epic Games as much as $147 million for its allegiance to the company. More specifically, in making Fortnite stay on the Google Play Store, supposedly locking them in a three-year contract from 2018 to 2021.
Epic held its head up high avoided this massive payout, and opted to go the other way for its Android availability.
Since 2018, Fortnite was made available to the Android platform, but it avoided its availability via Google's Play Store because of its 30 percent commission fee for all purchases in-game. Epic opted to have users download it from their website and install it on Android via sideloading.
Google Play: Fears on Fortnite's 'Contagion Effect'
The hearing earlier this week saw further explanation from Lawrence Koh, the former Google Play games business development head, claiming that it feared the "contagion effect" of Fortnite's absence, with other developers also "defecting" from the platform.
Its fear was massive, as it was forecasted that it could have lost "billions of dollars" in revenue should there have been a developers' exodus.
Fortnite Against Big Tech 'Monopoly'
Much of Fortnite's various themes in the game center on trumping massive adversaries or ruthless villains, and for many years, it has been one to make a stand against Big Tech which it regards as "monopolies." One of the largest cases Epic Games faced before is against Apple, centering on its App Store commission fees that held on to the 70-30 split, with the games developer calling it unfair.
Similar to the Apple case, Google is also facing antitrust violation claims from Epic Games in this latest lawsuit filed by the gaming company, allegedly having the same practice of trumping the competition.
Over the past week, the massive court battle between Google and Epic Games has begun to take shape, centering on the payment methods via the Play Store and the massive cut from developers.
There are many supporting Epic's claims and sharing the same sentiment as them regarding Big Tech's monopoly, including executives like X's Elon Musk and Spotify's Daniel Elk, further signifying this battle. A recent confirmation by Google via the hearing highlights the attempts to pay Epic Games to stay, wanting Fortnite on its Play Store, but despite the large offer, the game company was not moved.
