Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney on Monday described Google as a ruthless bully that uses shady tactics to protect a predatory payment system.
His shooting came as testimony in an antitrust trial that focused on Epic Games’ attempt to upend Google’s store for Android phone apps.
Sweeney’s more than two hours on the witness stand in San Francisco came less than a week after Google CEO Sundar Pichai defended before a 10-member jury how his company runs the Play Store for its Android apps.
It is one of two antitrust cases against Google, whose $1.7 trillion tech empire is under threat from a legal onslaught seeking to break it up.
The Testimonials in Android phone app case is scheduled to be completed before Christmas.
Tim Sweeney’s testimony revolved around an antitrust trial centered on Epic Games’ attempt to upend Google’s store for Android phone apps.Getty Images
Another case, centered on the dominant search engine Google, ended last week, but will not be decided by a federal judge in Washington, DC, until next year.
While Sweeney tried to portray Google as a greedy monopolist under questioning by his own attorney, Google attorney Jonathan Kravis tried to flip the script.
Much of Kravis’ cross-examination appeared designed to cast Sweeney as an executive interested in circumventing the old commission system to increase his video game company’s profits.
Epic alleges that Google engaged in illegal price suppression by collecting commissions ranging from 15% to 30% on in-app digital transactions. AP
Epic, maker of the popular Fortnite game, claimed that Google had engaged in illegal price gouging by collecting commissions ranging from 15% to 30% on in-app digital transactions.
It’s similar to the payment system Epic unsuccessfully challenged in a parallel lawsuit filed against Apple’s iPhone app store.
Epic appealed Apple’s trial decision to the US Supreme Court.
Sundar Pichai, Google’s CEO, defended before a 10-member jury how his company runs the Play Store for its Android apps. AFP via Getty Images
Unlike Apple’s iPhone app store, Google already allows competition to the Play Store — something Epic tried to do when it decided to launch Fortnite for Android phones in 2018 on its own website instead of the Play Store.
In his testimony on Monday, Sweeney recalled how Google called him to its headquarters in Mountain View, California, to try to persuade Epic to release Fortnite on the Play Store.
Sweeney said Google tried to lure him with various financial incentives, which he rejected.
Epic tried to allow competition to the Play Store when it decided to launch Fortnite for Android phones in 2018 on its own website. Shutterstock
“It looks like a crooked arrangement,” Sweeney told jurors. “Google has proposed a series of side deals, apparently designed to convince Epic not to compete with them.”
Sweeney’s appearance comes after Epic’s lawyers previously disclosed Google documents showing Google had offered video game maker Activision Blizzard a $360 million package to drop tentative plans to compete with the Play Store.
Google’s lawyers presented another document outlining the deal would bring more than $315 million in benefits to Activision.
After rejecting Google’s offer, Epic tried to distribute Fortnite for Android through its own website.
But Sweeney testified that the effort quickly turned into a “sad process” as far fewer gamers downloaded Fortnite for Android phones than expected.
He attributed the disappointing response to Google’s machinations of making it a cumbersome process to do outside of the Play Store and the use of pop-up “scary screens” warning of possible problems with the software.
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“We realize Google is a tough adversary and has the ability to stop us,” Sweeney said.
Epic eventually released Fortnite on the Play Store in 2020 as it hatched a secret plan to eventually bypass the commission system by secretly sneaking in alternative payment options as part of what Sweeney dubbed “Project Liberty.”
An alternative payment option was released in August 2020 in the revised Fortnite app for both the Play Store and the iPhone app store, prompting Apple and Google to block it within hours.
Epic later filed an antitrust lawsuit as part of what Sweeney framed as a crusade on behalf of all game makers as more games happen on smartphones instead of consoles and PCs.
“It’s an issue that I see as inherent to all games, including Epic,” Sweeney said.
During his cross-examination of Sweeney, Google attorney Kravis laid out the 30% commission that Epic pays Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo for transactions on PlayStation, Xbox and Switch consoles without complaint while still making billions of dollars in profits from those platforms.
In response to questions posed by the jury, Sweeney revealed that video game consoles and personal computers generated more than 90% of Epic’s revenue from in-app purchases throughout the period in 2020 when Fortnite was also on the iPhone app store and the Play Store. .
Sweeney didn’t say why Epic didn’t challenge the 30% commission charge on gaming devices other than smartphones, but he left no doubt about his goal in this trial.
“We want a jury to find that Google has violated the law so that the court can force Google to stop this practice,” Sweeney said.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
