Título: “Epic Lawsuit Reveals Google’s $360 Million Deal with Activision Blizzard to Suppress Play Store Competition”

Google paid Activision Blizzard approximately $360 million to prevent them from directly competing against the Play Store. This agreement was part of Google’s Project Hug initiative, which included a total of 24 deals, as seen in court documents obtained by Reuters.

The Details of Project Hug, later renamed the Games Velocity Program, are now being examined in the ongoing antitrust lawsuit between Epic Games and Google. According to Epic Games, Google offered financial incentives in 2021 to retain major app developers on the Play Store. The unredacted version of Epic’s complaint revealed more about the extent of the Apps and Games Velocity Program.

Google also made deals with Nintendo, Ubisoft, and Riot Games. In the case of Riot Games, Google reportedly paid around $30 million to prevent Riot from moving forward with its own app store efforts, as stated by Epic. Riot Games has not yet responded to Engadget’s request for comment.

The lawsuit alleges that Google was aware that reaching an agreement with Activision would discourage the publisher from launching a competing app store, a claim that Activision disputes. An Activision spokesperson informed Reuters, “Google did not pressure us to agree not to compete with Google Play. Epic’s allegations are unfounded.”

Google denied Epic’s accusations, explaining that initiatives like Project Hug offer incentives for developers to provide perks and early access to Google Play users. They stressed that the program does not prohibit developers from creating rival app stores and that Google Play competes fairly with various competitors.