Google Wanted To Buy Fortnite Maker Epic Games To Quell Play Store 'Contagion': Report

Epic Games and digital marketplaces for Apple and Google have had an epic showdown over the last year when the company's flagship game, the globally cherished Fortnite was removed.

Now, it turns that Google was attempting to buy out Epic Games in hopes of neutralising the threat posed to its Play Store ecosystem.

What's the great tech tussle about?

In 2020, Epic Games introduced a new payment method for Fortnite which allowed the company to escape payment systems and in-app purchase mechanisms put in place by both Google and Apple. Not much later, Epic Games filed antitrust lawsuits against Apple and Google.

MobyGames

Unsealed court documents have finally revealed the extent of the tech tussle between Google and Epic Games. Reported first by The Verge, the documents refer to the antitrust lawsuit filed by Epic in the United States, similar to what the company filed in Australia.

Also read: Google, Facebook Make Vaccines Mandatory For Work, Delays Back To Office Plans

Epic Games had decided to distribute Fortnite through channels outside of the marketplace. Due to this, Google reportedly considered the idea of buying "some or all" of Epic Games in hopes of squashing competition with the game developer.

Unsplash

A "contagion"?

In the documents, Epic Games claimed that Google viewed its new consumer policies as a "contagion". It also accused Google of initiating multiple internal projects aimed at limiting competition from developers like Epic.

Epic Games

Epic also alleges that Google employed existing contractual barracks to make it hard for users to download games developed by Epic. One of such moves was blocking OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) like OnePlus from forging deals with Epic Games which would have given users more access to install and update games without having to use Google Play Store.

Also read: Google Bans ¡®Sugar Daddy¡¯ Apps As Part Of Its New Restrictions On Sexual Content Involving Young Girls

In the documents, it is revealed that Epic Games had already struck a deal with OnePlus, which was later sidelined by Google's tactics. In addition, the company claims that Google offered to launch Fortnite on the Play Store through a "special deal", while warning the game developer against sideloading and the "awful experience" it provided to the users.