Highlights
- Documents from the Epic Games vs. Google lawsuit reveal that Google wanted to acquire Epic Games and gain ownership of Fortnite in 2018.
- Google saw Fortnite as a major business driver and initially planned to buy a 20% stake in Epic Games for $2 billion.
- Despite Epic Games refusing Google's offer to bring Fortnite to the Play Store in 2018, the game was later released on the platform in 2020 but removed due to attempts to avoid paying fees.
Google wanted to acquire Epic Games to gain ownership of Fortnite back in 2018, unredacted documents from the Epic Games vs. Google lawsuit have recently revealed. Epic Games is known for offering free games on the Epic Games Store, its popular Unreal Engine, and for its blockbuster game Fortnite. 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 lawsuit started back in 2020 when Epic tried to circumvent Apple and Google’s fees for in-game payments on Fortnite. 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.
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 over Epic Games to make Fortnite a centerpiece of the Android operating system. According to documents uncovered by The Verge, Google saw Fortnite as 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 over Fortnite.
This was not the only time that documents proved that Google was very interested in Fortnite. A few days ago, it was revealed that Google offered Epic $147 million to bring Fortnite to the Play Store back in 2018. Despite refusing the offer at the time, Epic actually released Fortnite on 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, and Epic announced major layoffs back in September. At the time, the company confirmed that it cut 16% of its staff, around 870 employees, as a way to reduce costs.
