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Google was extremely pressed about Epic Games and how it got Fortnite into the hands of players.
Bloomberg reports Google decided to create a Fortnite Task Force in 2018 after Epic Games found a way to go around Google’s Play Store and launch the game through Samsung’s Galaxy Store and its website in 2018, internal Google documents reveal.
The filings also reveal that Google “latched onto” a potential security issue for players loading the game onto their phone through the Galaxy Store or Fortnite’s website. Epic claims that Google “rushed to get the word out” in just nine days, completely ignoring its own policy of giving app developers 90 days before it makes vulnerabilities public. Epic says the move was to “deter developers from launching outside of Google Play and maintain Google’s monopoly over Android app distribution.”
A spokesperson for Google reached out to Android Central in response to Epic Games and said:
Epic released Fortnite on Android with security vulnerabilities that could compromise consumers’ data. Safety and security are our top priorities, so of course, we took steps to warn our users about this security flaw in accordance with our App Security policy. We’ll continue to fight Epic’s claims in court.
In October, Google has countersued Epic Games, accusing the game studio of “violating its Play Store contact.” Google’s counter-complaint also claimed that game studio denied services fees under the Developer Distribution Agreement (DDA) for in-game purchases users make outside of Google Play Billing. Epic has rejected all of these claims, of course.
This situation is becoming long and drawn-out.
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