Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney testifies in Google antitrust lawsuit
The Google antitrust lawsuit, brought to light by filings from Epic Games, has reached its ninth day and has unveiled some significant revelations. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, disclosed that the company pays Apple up to 18 billion dollars annually for the default iPhone search position. Additionally, Don Harrison, Google’s partnerships boss, revealed that Spotify pays zero percent when users opt for Spotify’s payment system, but between 6 to 10 percent when using Google’s channels. On the ninth day of the trial, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney took the stand to give his testimony, and here are the ten key revelations from his statements.
Sweeney highlighted his background and the development of the Unreal Engine, emphasizing that the initial plan for Epic was to launch Fortnite directly on the Google Play Store. He also revealed that Samsung offered a special deal to distribute Fortnite on its Galaxy Store, charging Epic only 12 percent instead of the usual 30 percent revenue share that Google was asking for. Sweeney explained the two-step download process for Fortnite and stated that the decision to initially bypass Google Play deterred many users from installing the game. Eventually, Epic resubmitted Fortnite to Google Play with its own payment system, but Google repeatedly rejected the submission until Play Billing was added.
The Epic Games CEO claimed responsibility for initiating legal challenges against Apple and Google, aiming to break the monopoly of these tech giants and create a more open and competitive app market. Epic made two demands from Google, seeking competing payment processing options and equal access to operating system features for software installations. Sweeney emphasized that Epic is not seeking monetary compensation from Google, but instead prioritizes market access and fair competition. He also acknowledged Tencent, a Chinese company, as a major investor in Epic Games.
Finally, Sweeney addressed the controversy over the delisting of Fortnite from Google Play, stating that the violation of Google Play policy led to the removal. His testimony provided insight into the complex legal battle between Epic Games and Google.
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