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Google Allegedly Paid 24 App Developers To Stop Competition With Its App Store

By  |  November 17, 2022

Google has struck deals with at least 24 big app developers to stop them from competing with its Play Store, including an agreement to pay Activision Blizzard about $360 million over three years, according to a court filing on Thursday.

Google also agreed in 2020 to pay Tencent Riot Games unit, which makes “League of Legends,” $30 million over one year in a similar deal, the filing stated.

Read more: Google Store Refuses Truth Social Android App

The financial details emerged in a newly unredacted copy of a lawsuit “Fortnite” video game maker Epic Games first filed against Google in 2020 over allegedly anticompetitive practices related to the search giant’s Android and Play Store businesses.

Google, Activision and Riot did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the new filing. But Google has previously said the lawsuit is baseless and has taken business conversations out of context.

Epic last year mostly lost a similar case against Apple, the other leading app store provider. An appellate ruling in that case is expected next year.