Tomohiro Ohsumi
A new detail from Epic Games’ 2020 lawsuit against Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGLE) about Android policy and Play Store accusing Google of agreeing to pay 360 million dollars to Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI) to block the development of a competing store.
A court filing on Thursday gave a new, unedited copy of the lawsuit, Reuters reported, revealing that Epic (the maker of the hit game fortress) accuses Google of making such arrangements with at least 24 major app developers to prevent them from forming a competing alternative to the Play Store.
Epic Games is largely owned by founder Tim Sweeney, although Tencent (OTCPK:TCEHY) has a 40% stake and Sony (SONY) owns about 4.9%.
Sweeney went head-to-head with Google and Apple (AAPL) in 2020 over disputes regarding whether apps offering alternative in-app payment systems can continue to be available in their app stores. And Epic operates a personal computer game store, similar to Steam as a game distribution site.
Activision Blizzard is currently pursuing the acquisition of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT).
“But for Apple’s illegal restrictions, Epic will offer a competing app store on iOS devices, allowing iOS users to download apps in a curated, creative store that will give users the choice to use Epic’s in-app billing or other third-party processing tools,” Epic said when it said. sue Apple in the summer of 2020.
“We all must choose to fight a painful battle right now, or accept an almighty mediator with limitless ambitions that captures dedication and limits innovation for decades. next,” Sweeney said when Epic sued Google.
