- Epic Games and Google will engage in a new partnership after their five-year-long legal battle.
- The partnership entails Google and Epic Games helping each other market and promote their products.
- Google will also reduce its commission to 9% or 20% for developers using alternative payment methods.
It is no secret that Fortnite is one of, if not the biggest, game in the world, with Epic Games constantly looking for opportunities to expand the title’s reach. In a move that not many saw coming, Epic Games and Google are establishing a new mutually beneficial partnership worth $800 Million over the next six years.
Details about this new partnership follow the two tech giants’ move to settle their five-year legal battle over Google’s Play Store practices. In a recent court hearing with California District Judge James Donato, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney and economics expert Doug Bernheim were questioned about this new deal and how this partnership may have caused Epic to take a step back in their legal battle against Google.
Tim Sweeney Weighs In on How the Google Epic Games Partnership Will Help Fortnite and Android
The new $800 Million partnership between Epic Games and Google is a sign of “new business” between the two companies, according to Doug Bernheim. As of now, both entities are keeping details about the deal under wraps. However, the recent court testimony by Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney gives us a small insight as to what this new partnership will bring. For starters, Google and Epic Games will collaborate on product development and marketing commitments.
Judge Donato then discussed the staggering $800 Million figure in the partnership, describing it as a “pretty healthy partnership,” while also revealing that there is an element of marketing synergy in this new partnership. With this, Google will help Epic Games market Fortnite and other properties while Epic assists Google in promoting the Android platform as an open ecosystem. This would allow Epic Games’ metaverse, including Fortnite, to significantly further its reach on a global scale.
Donato also pointed out how Epic Games and Google will only go through with this deal if the settlement relating to standard Google Play Store commissions and alternate app store options comes to fruition. Tim Sweeney revealed that Epic has not yet reached an agreement with Google regarding this deal as of now, but is hoping to see it finalized soon, expressing how both the settlement and the partnership are “an important part of Epic’s growth plan for the future.”
This tit-for-tat deal raised some concerns for Judge Donato, who believes that the partnership might be incentivising Epic to go easier on the terms of the ongoing legal battle. To these concerns, Tim Sweeney responded by saying, “I don’t see anything crooked about Epic paying Google off to encourage much more robust competition than they’ve allowed in the past,” while adding how he sees this deal as a “significant transfer of value from Epic to Google.”
When talking about the role of Unreal Engine and Epic Games’ metaverse in this new partnership, Tim Sweeney explained how “Epic’s technology is used by many companies in the space Google is operating in to train their products, so the ability for Google to use the Unreal Engine more fullsome.”
This suggests that Google will soon be making extensive use of the Unreal Engine to train its products down the line, possibly for AI and simulation. However, Tim Sweeney also clarified that Epic Games and Google are not working on a collaborative product while stating, “This is Google and Epic each separately building product lines.”
This unlikely alliance between Google and Epic Games is sure to make waves in the gaming industry, potentially defining the next era of mobile gaming.
What are your views on this new partnership between the two giants? Do you think that the partnership raises concerns about antitrust laws? Let us know in the comments below!
