In 2018, Google discussed a multimillion-dollar deal with Epic Games. She was ready to invest $147 million in Epic Games in three years if she agreed to publish Fortnite on Google Play. This is stated in the documents disclosed during the trial between the companies.
Recall that in 2018 Epic Games announced that the Android version of Fortnite will not be released on Google Play and it can only be downloaded from the game's website. The company was not satisfied with the 30% commission of the store and the advertising of competitors' games in its search results. In addition, Epic Games wanted to work directly with its users.
According to court documents, Google feared that other large companies would follow the example of Epic Games and stop releasing their titles on Google Play. Google estimates that in this case it could lose from $550 million to $3.6 billion.
At the trial, Purnima Kochikar, Vice President for working with games and applications in Google Play He reported that Epic Games refused the deal with Google.
Fortnite was released on Google Play in April 2020. Then Epic Games said that it was forced to make this decision. According to her, Google did everything possible to ensure that applications not from Google Play were perceived as malicious.