Epic Turned Down $147 Million for Game on Google Play Store
Epic Games is currently gearing up for something interesting, and this time it’s not a new update and fresh Fortnite season. It’s yet another major lawsuit. Epic Fortnite updates tend to be a bit more exciting, but the company’s ongoing legal troubles have grabbed plenty of headlines by themselves. Most recently we’ve learnt that the company turned down a huge sum to put the game on the Google Play Store, only to do exactly that without payment just a short while later.
The developer has previously attempted to take on Apple and got hit with a record settlement for Epic for Fortnite cosmetic purchases fairly recently too. Their most recent lawsuit has similarly set lofty goals, trying to take down Google. In the initial fillings we’ve learnt a bit more about the two companies. Including that they turned down a $147 million settlement. Why is the lawsuit going ahead and why has epic turned down this offer?
Epic Fortnite Developer Turns Down $147 million Offer in Google Suite
Epic in recent years hasn’t been afraid to take on other giant companies. The main sticking point with Epic’s fight with Google (along with their previous legal fight with Apple) is the way purchases are dealt with. Google and Epic take a cut of all sales through their stores. A cut which Epic wasn’t satisfied with. In the documents published as part of legal battle though we’ve learnt more about negotiations between the two.
It seems Google approached Epic at some point with an offer of $147 million, to relent and put Epic’s Fortnite title back on the Play Store. Epic instead allowed the map to be installed directly from their website. Google argued that this more convoluted system would limit Fortnite’s reach, which is hard to argue with.
The entire legal battle is over Google’s claim to part of Epic Fortnite sales on the platform. The legal fight with Apple didn’t go so well for the company. Although, with Epic having Fortnite accessible on mobile now things might be a bit different. Since Google allows sideloading of apps unlike apple, the set-up is different here too. Although, recent settlements haven’t been too kind to the Fortnite publisher.
While Fortnite did eventually make its way back to the Google Play store, this adds some interesting context. The Epic Vs Google Trial will be going ahead now. We might learn more about Epic’s approach to mobile Fortnite over the course of this trial.
I want to download it on my computer of fortnite but I can’t with the school computer thank you goodbye