Google is said to have considered buying Epic to hinder lawsuit against app store fees
Google, which is being sued by Epic Games over app store fees, is said to have considered taking over the rival. Incidentally, Google assesses the amount of the fees as “arbitrary”.
A good year ago, a dispute between Fortnite developer Epic Games and the app store operators Google and Apple escalated. The attempt by Epics to equip its Fortnite app with an additional payment option in order to circumvent the share of sales demanded by the two tech companies failed. Epic was thrown out of the app stores, the dispute is going to court. In the legal battle between Google and Epic, documents have now come to the public showing that Google has apparently considered buying Epic.
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Did Google want to buy itself out of Epic lawsuit?
The assumption is that Google wanted to keep an unpleasant opponent at bay. According to Epic, the group has developed a number of internal projects that should serve to prevent further potential lawsuits from other app providers. A takeover of parts or the entire game developer had also been considered. The documents reveal according to Bloomberg also how Google views the amount of 30 percent fees charged in its app store. Accordingly, Google rates the whole thing as “unfounded” and “arbitrary fee”.
Alphabet subsidiary Google has not yet commented on the media report on the court documents. However, according to Bloomberg, nothing in these papers suggests that Google actually took steps to tackle an Epic takeover. It seems to have been more of a mind game.
In any case, Epic boss Tim Sweeney was surprised by the considerations in a tweet. He was only now aware of these because the relevant documents were under lock and key. Sweeney sees it as an attempt by Google to put an end to Epic’s efforts to compete fairly with Google Play. It is unclear whether the purchase attempt was then a takeover negotiation or some kind of hostile takeover, according to Sweeney.
Fee in the Play Store criticized as “extravagant”
Google is currently facing several antitrust lawsuits in the United States alone. As recently as the beginning of July, 36 states and Washington DC filed a lawsuit against Google for violations of competition law in the business with apps for Android phones. In the complaint, the charge in the Play Store was described as “extravagant”. In addition, it should harm the consumer: inside. The process between Epic Games and Apple, which also revolves around the Play Store rules and the amount of retained sales, took place in May. Both opponents are still waiting for the verdict.
In any case, Epic Games is doing well financially. In its most recent round of funding, the Fortnite developer raised $ 1 billion. Among other things, Sony is said to have made a $ 200 million strategic investment, as Bloomberg says. According to Epic, this has a valuation of $ 28.7 billion. Incidentally, 40 percent of the company belongs to the Chinese online games group and Wechat owner Tencent.
