Google wanted Fortnite so bad they teamed up with Tencent for a 'hostile takeover', explains Tim Sweeney

Apple vs. Epic Games courtroom trial still awaits a verdict as the fate of Fortnite on iOS devices hangs in the balance. However, Epic did not stop at suing one tech giant and has previously filed an anti-trust lawsuit against Google as well.

Recently, unsealed court documents have faintly hinted at Google's attempt(s) to take over Fortnite developers. An accusation which now finds a stronger base in freshly unredacted documents.

A few days ago, new revelations emerged as the court allowed more redactions to be removed from the discovery documents.

One of these was a complaint that Fortnite developers filed back in July after finding out that Google had approached Chinese gaming giant Tencent to orchestrate a hostile takeover of Epic Games:

"Google recognized that Epic might not accept its offer. 'As a potential alternative', a senior Google executive proposed that Google 'consider approaching Tencent,' a company that owns a minority stake in Epic, 'to either (a) buy Epic shares from Tencent to get more control over Epic', or '(b) join up with Tencent to buy 100% of Epic."

As per the complaint, it is obvious that Google wanted to use the influence Tencent has not only in the gaming industry but also withi Epic Games, as it owns a 40% stake in the company.

It appears, sadly, that Google was indeed contemplating a coordinated, multinational hostile takeover attempt of Epic in response to Fortnite launching outside of Google Play.https://t.co/yJ2dTzis7D

— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) August 19, 2021

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Apple and Google also planned to join hands to stop the 'Fortnite trend'

For Google, Tencent was an option to put an end to the menace that Fortnite developers had started, after allowing players to sideload their apps on Android and avoid paying commissions for Play Store transactions.

However, in case that plan was to fail, the tech giant also had plans to get in bed with Apple.

Regardless of being major competitors in the tech market, there are still many cases where Apple and Google have worked together.

Google also pays a massive amount of money to ensure that it remains the default search engine on iOS devices.

Since both the companies find themselves battling the Fortnite developers in separate anti-trust suits, they decided to join hands and work towards a common goal.

Fortnite mocking Apple in YouTube video (Image via CNET Highlights/YouTube)

The court documents further revealed a meeting between senior Google and Apple officials to work as a single company and combat Epic Games habit of undermining their stores and payment commissions.

Epic Games, CEO Tim Sweeny took to Twitter to express his long-held opinions while waiting for the court to allow details about the case to be revealed.

Sweeny was extremely saddened by what he called a 'coordinated, multinational hostile takeover attempt' by Google.

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Google chooses to persecute the Fortnite developers

According to a Twitter thread from Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeny, instead of offering the Fortnite developers a better deal than the pre-existing 30% commission on in-game transactions, Google decided to 'collude and crush Epic'.

Then there's Google's secret "Project Hug" to pay off publishers to not compete with Google Play by rebating 5% of store fees - but financially characterizing the transactions as YouTube deals, cloud service discounts, etc. Shady stuff.https://t.co/IKyTf3YpZk

— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) August 19, 2021

His tweets also revealed that after Fortnite's exit from the Play Store, Google offered other major apps a reduction in commission under a secret 'Project Hug'.

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