Google’s million dollar deal with Activision was to prevent launching rival app store
By MYBRANDBOOK
In a bid to stop developers from competing with its Play Store, Alphabet Inc's Google has struck at least 24 deals with big app developers over three years. This includes an agreement to pay Activision Blizzard Inc about $360 million, according to a court filing on Thursday.
The filing stated that Google also agreed in 2020 to pay Tencent Holdings Ltd's Riot Games unit, which makes "League of Legends," about $30 million over one year. The financial details emerged in a newly unredacted copy of a lawsuit that "Fortnite" video game maker Epic Games first filed against Google in 2020. It alleged anticompetitive practices related to the search giant's Android and Play Store businesses.
Calling the lawsuit baseless and full of mischaracterization, Google said its deals to keep developers satisfied reflect healthy competition.
The Google agreements with developers are part of an internal effort known as "Project Hug" and were described in earlier versions of the lawsuit without the exact terms. The remuneration includes payments for posting to YouTube and credits toward Google ads and cloud services.
After the deal was announced in January 2020, Activision told Google that it was considering launching its own app store. Partnering with Riot also intended to "stop their in-house 'app store' efforts," court papers say. Google then forecasted billions of dollars in lost app store sales if developers fled to alternative systems.
Epic's lawsuit alleges that Google knew signing with Activision "effectively ensured that (Activision) would abandon its plans to launch a competing app store." The agreement increases prices and lowers quality of service, the lawsuit added.
Among others that signed with Google, as of July, were gamemakers Nintendo Co and Ubisoft Entertainment SA, meditation app Calm and education app company Age of Learning, according to the court papers.
BREAKING NEWS
TECHNO TRENDS
Intel brings AI to all its lines of CPUs
Intel has announced a range of technologies, at its third annual Intel Inn...
WhatsApp launches in-chat payments service in India
WhatsApp users in India will be able to pay for products and services thro...
Infosys and NVIDIA to Boost Productivity With Generative AI
Infosys (NSE, BSE, NYSE: INFY), a global leader in next-generation digita...
Pavan Davuluri to lead Microsoft’s product team
Microsoft has announced the appointment of Pavan Davuluri to lead a team f...
E-Magazine
TECHNOTAINMENT
Garmin India Unveils its Largest Indian Experience Store in In
Garmin India, a unit of Garmin Ltd., today announced the grand opening of
India to host the Miss World 2023 in Kashmir
The 71st Miss World 2023 contest is set to be held in Kashmir later this ye
MOVERS & SHAKERS
NatWest Group India appoints Anil Puttegowda as Head of Strate
NatWest Group India has appointed Anil Puttegowda as the new Head of St
Sharmila Sherikar joins Sonata Software as Senior VP and Head
Sonata Software has announced that Sharmila Sherikar has joined the orga
OPEN YOUR EYES
INTERVIEWS
HPE Aruba Networking bridging the physical and digital worlds
The information technology industry is a critical component of the 21st cen
D-Link in pursuit of building a more connected, smarter and co
D-Link is committed to the ‘Make in India’ vision. Aligned with this, t
HOT PICK
Acer Introduces Nitro V - The Next Generation of Gaming Laptop
Acer, one of the leading gaming PC brands, today unveiled its latest addit
Asus rolls out the desktop innovation with the ROG G22, Consum
The S501 also has a hassle-free I/O. It packs a ton of ports, both on the f
MAKE IN INDIA BRANDS
MICROMAX INFORMATICS LTD.
WIPRO LTD.
FIREBOLTT
FINOLEX INDUSTRIES LTD.
EMINENT CIO'S OF INDIA
ICONS OF INDIA
Technology Icons Of India 2023: Vijay Shekhar Sharma
Vijay Shekhar Sharma is an Indian technology entrepreneur and billiona...
Technology Icons Of India 2023: Ashwini Vaishnaw
Ashwini Vaishnaw is an Indian politician and former IAS officer and is...
Technology Icons Of India 2023: Kulmeet Bawa
Kulmeet Bawa resides as President & Managing Director, SAP Indian subc...
PARTNER SPEAKERS
PSU
New defence PSUs will help India become self-reliant
MIL, India’s biggest manufacturer and market leader is engaged in Pr...
Aadhaar: Architecting the World's Largest Biometric Identity System
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is a statutory au...
STPI encouraging software exports from India
Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) is an S&T organization under...
VIDEOS
Top 25 Brands
Value-Added Distribution
IVALUE INFOSOLUTIONS PVT. LTD.
: iValue Info Solutions is a value added distributor, provides solutio...
SONATA INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY LIMITED
Sonata Software Limited is a leading Modernization engineering company...
TECHNOBIND SOLUTIONS PVT. LTD.
TechnoBind’s business model is focused on identifying and partnering...
EIITF 2023
SNA 2023
CMO of the Year
WOMEN LEADERSHIP
EMINENT CIO's OF INDIA
TRENDS IN TECHNOLOGY
MORE VIDEOS
ADVERTISEMENTS
TECHNOLOGY DISRUPTION
UNICORNS REVOLUTIONISING
