Google Paid Activision $360 Million to Not Compete, Epic Says
- Google is in protracted legal battle with Fortnite maker Epic
- Activision Blizzard called Epic’s allegations “nonsense”
Photographer: Ina Fassbender/AFP/Getty Images
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Alphabet Inc.’s Google paid Activision Blizzard Inc. and Riot Games millions of dollars to not launch competing app stores or to prevent developers from making Android apps outside of the Play Store, according to a court filing from Epic Games Inc.
Fortnite maker Epic Games is in a heated legal battle with Google and Apple Inc. over whether the tech giants’ app store practices are anti-competitive. In an amended complaint on Thursday, Epic says Google agreed in January 2020 to pay Activision $360 million over three years after the game publisher discussed launching its own app store.