Summary
Google wanted to acquireEpic Gamesto gain ownership ofFortniteback in 2018, unredacted documents from the Epic Games vs. Google lawsuit have recently revealed. Epic Games is known for offeringfree games on the Epic Games Store, its popular Unreal Engine, and for its blockbuster gameFortnite. While the online store is not very profitable, the game is, and it seems that Google wanted a piece of its success.
The Epic Games vs Google lawsuitstarted back in 2020 when Epic tried to circumvent Apple and Google’s fees for in-game payments onFortnite. As a response to that, both Apple and Google pulled the game from their stores. This prompted Epic Games to sue the companies. So far, Epic lost to Apple in 2021, but it’s still on trial against Google. The Epic vs. Google trial started back on November 6, and it will be continuing until early December, hopefully concluding before the end of the year.
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One of the newest pieces of information comes from documents regarding Google’s “Project Elektra” strategy, which was originally planned for 2018. Project Elektra sought to gain enough control overEpic Gamesto makeFortnitea centerpiece of the Android operating system. According todocuments uncovered by The Verge, Google sawFortniteas a “leading business driver.” The company’s plans, as confirmed via emails from Google’s president of global partnerships Don Harrison, was initially to buy a 20% stake in Epic for around $2 billion. Other emails also show that Google considered purchasing 100% of Epic Games’ stake as a way to achieve control overFortnite.
This was not the only time that documents proved that Google was very interested inFortnite. A few days ago, it was revealed thatGoogle offered Epic $147 million to bringFortniteto the Play Storeback in 2018. Despite refusing the offer at the time, Epic actually releasedFortniteon the platform in 2020. However, it was later removed by Google as Epic attempted to avoid paying the platform’s fees.
After five years, the Epic Games Store is still not profitable, andEpic announced major layoffsback in September. At the time, the company confirmed that it cut 16% of its staff, around 870 employees, as a way to reduce costs.
