Epic Exposes Google Play’s “Pay-to-Play” Scheme!
Epic Games Inc. has accused Alphabet Inc. of employing a strategy known as “bribe and block” to stifle competition for its Google Play app marketplace. This alleged tactic has reportedly harmed developers and resulted in increased prices for consumers. The courtroom battle between Epic Games Inc. and the tech giant has commenced with these claims.
Epic, the maker of the popular Fortnite game, plans to change Google Play’s practices in an antitrust lawsuit that will determine whether Google has monopolized the Android app distribution and payment market. The case threatens billions of dollars in revenue generated by the trade.
Epic attorney Gary Bornstein said in Monday’s opening statement that Google pays its competitors, including those who want to set up their own app stores to deal directly with users, and prevents them from competing with its own marketplace and payment system.
Google’s anti-competitive actions lead to “higher prices, lower quality and less choice for everyone, while Google makes billions and billions in profits — more than it would in a competitive market,” Bornstein said. In 2021, the Google Play Store will generate more than $12 billion in revenue with a profit margin of nearly 71 percent, he said.
“Google competes”
Glenn Pomerantz, an attorney representing Google, responded, saying that “Google cannot be a monopoly because Google competes” with rival app stores such as Apple Inc. Popular apps like Clubhouse and Chat GPT were released exclusively on the Apple App Store, and Google has to contend. to win over developers, Pomerantz told jurors.
“Bribery is a pretty strong word,” the lawyer said. “These deals had nothing to do with bribes,” and are instead “part of Google’s efforts to gain support from app developers.”
None of the developer deals or incentive offers cited by Epic — including those made to Activision Blizzard Inc. before it was acquired by Microsoft Corp. and Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s Riot Games — contain exclusivity clauses or terms tied to third-party deals. , according to Pomerantz.
The trial is scheduled to last until early December and is expected to include testimony from Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and Epic CEO Tim Sweeney.
Epic CEO in court
Sweeney, dressed in a gray suit, sat in the public seating area on the first day of the trial. He stood up and acknowledged the judge, bowing, as Bornstein pointed to the CEO and told them he founded Epic while still in college.
The Google Play cartel battle began when Epic sued Google in 2020. Alphabet claimed in a counterclaim that the game maker breached its contract and acted in bad faith when it tried to set up its own app store in 2020. Google Play billing system.
Epic is the only stakeholder to sue Alphabet after the Mountain View, Calif.-based company recently reached a settlement with consumers, state attorneys general and Match Group Inc., all of which had targeted Google Play in complaints. Epic lost a largely similar challenge to Apple two years ago over the app store.
Epic said in its complaint that Google agreed in January 2020 to pay Activision $360 million over three years after the game publisher discussed launching its own app store. Activision has denied that Google made such an offer.
The case is In Re Google Play Store Antitrust Litigation, 21-md-02981, US District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco).
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