Epic Games is now one of the most successful companies in the world, due in large part to the incomparable success of its battle royale game Fortnite. Its success is paired with a focus on independence, as Epic Games strives to separate itself from third-party storefronts like Steam, the Apple App Store, and Google Play. At one point, it seems, this effort pushed one company, Google, to the extreme of considering acquiring "some or all" of Epic, or at least that's what Epic alleges.
Epic Games is currently embroiled in multiple lawsuits across the world against both Apple and Google regarding each company's mobile storefronts. A new document stemming from Epic's case against Google in the USA detailed what Epic describes as Google's effort to maintain its monopoly. It alleges that Google uses its "size, influence, power, and money" to push partners into "anticompetitive agreements," and that when that fails Google considers even more extreme methods of control.
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With Epic Games at one point detaching itself from the Google Play Store in order to avoid the storefront's 30% fees, Epic alleges that Google considered an extreme alternative option. It says that Google "contemplated buying some or all of Epic" in order to keep Fortnite within the Google Play Store environment. The accusation being that Google didn't just want the money from Fortnite's sales, but rather considered Fortnite's independence from the Google Play Store a threat that could lead to other companies separating from the storefront.
Unfortunately, there is no specific evidence available of Google's attempt to acquire some or all of Epic available at this time. Epic says that it's only now learning about Google's efforts to "shut down" its competition with the Google Play Store. As such, Epic's representation of the matter may be exaggerated or spun in a way that isn't entirely fitting. That said, if it said it in front of a judge then there is something to it.
Google considering acquiring Epic Games removed from context is obviously not illegal. It hardly seems realistic, however, considering how much Epic's value has climbed over the past five years. In the context of Google striving to maintain control over Android devices and funneling all app sales through the Google Play Store, it's certainly an unsettling point. If Google would try and by a company worth tens of billions of dollars to maintain control, how can much smaller third-parties compete?
Epic's court case against Google, as well as its court case against Apple and several other lawsuits outside of the United States, continue to move forward. It's impossible to tell whether the cases will end in Epic's favor, never mind what that might mean for Apple and Android devices. Regardless, more information comes out seemingly every week that's unsettling to the average consumer. Epic's cases are at the very least providing that new awareness of what's going on.
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Source: IGN