Insights from Epic-Google antitrust case: Fortnite's costly Google Play Store bid

In the ongoing antitrust case between Epic Games and Google, several revelations have emerged. Epic Games accused Google of anti-competitive behavior, including offering incentives to developers to launch games exclusively on the Play Store. Google countered by claiming that these incentives were part of its competition strategy against other app stores. It was revealed that Google offered Activision Blizzard $360 million and Epic Games $147 million to bring their games to the Play Store. Testimony also confirmed that Google rejected apps for "steering" users to pay outside the Play Store. The court heard that the Play Store generates over $12 billion in annual profits for Google, while Epic Games Store remains unprofitable. Additionally, Google negotiated a special deal with Netflix and sought to seal documents related to Spotify's deal.