Google offered developer Epic Games $147 million to put Fortnite on the Google Play Store, according to The Verge’s reporting of the ongoing legal battle between Epic and Google.
Epic’s initial decision to release Fortnite via its own third-party launcher in 2018 seemed to have sent a chill down Google’s spine, and resulted in the $147 million deal being made and rejected by Epic. The deal would’ve seen the massive total being delivered over three years via “incremental funding.”
By putting Fortnite on the Play Store directly, it’s being argued that Google aimed to prevent a loss of in-app fees that would stem from other developers following in Epic’s footsteps. The confirmation of this $147 million deal arrived amid the third day of the tech giants’ court bout.
This is but one revelation that’s come from the legal battle, which began in 2020. Epic Games is arguing Google’s app store is an unlawful monopoly that gets in the way of developers who use “third-party app stores, sideloaded apps, and non-Google payment processors” according to The Verge. But Google disagrees, saying its opponent’s demands would result in the Android OS being less secure.
If you’re feeling a bit of deja vu, that’s to be expected. Epic had a similar legal battle with Apple back in 2021, where the Fortnite developer argued Apple’s iOS app store constituted a monopoly “on the distribution of software, on the monetization of software,” resulting in a split decision that sided with Apple in nine of ten counts, including decrying the claim that Apple was a monopoly. It is strange that the company is insisting on doing this same song and dance two years later, but c’est la vie.
Meanwhile, Epic recently launched Fortnite OG, marking a return to the game’s original map for the first time in years. The OG update resulted in the game’s most populous day ever, amassing a whopping total of 44.7 million players as of Saturday, November 4. It has been confirmed to last for about a month, ending on December 2 at 10PM ET.
