South Korea fines Google $32 million for blocking games on a rival platform
South Korea’s competition authority has fined Alphabet Inc’s Google 42.1 billion won ($31.88 million) for blocking the publication of mobile video games on a rival’s platform.
The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) said on Tuesday that Google strengthened its market position and damaged local app market One Store’s revenue and value as a platform by requiring video game makers to publish their games exclusively on Google Play in exchange for app visibility between June 2016 and April 2018.
Google said it will review the KFTC’s final decision to assess its next course of action.
“Google is heavily invested in the success of developers, and we respectfully disagree with the KFTC’s conclusions,” the spokesperson said.
The KFTC said the move against the US tech giant is part of the government’s efforts to ensure a fair market.
Game makers affected by Google’s actions include Netmarble, Nexon and NCSOFT and other smaller companies, the competition authority added.
In 2021, Google was fined over 200 billion won by the KFTC for blocking custom versions of the Android operating system.
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