Activision Blizzard's negotiations with Google involved creating own game store
New details have emerged from the ongoing Epic v/s Google trial, revealing Activision Blizzard's secret "Project Boston." The project aimed to boost the gaming giant's mobile revenue by changing its relationship with Google. One strategy involved creating an Android app store, either independently or in partnership with Epic Games and Supercell, to avoid the Google Play Store. Another strategy involved negotiating a deal with Google worth over $100 million to secure better economics across various channels.
'Steam of Mobile' concept discussed
Activision Blizzard CFO Armin Zerza discussed the idea of their own mobile game store as the "Steam of Mobile" in private emails with Epic CEO Tim Sweeney. The proposed store would charge a transaction fee of 10-12% much lower than the 30% fee imposed by Google and other gaming platforms. The ultimate goal was to release all Activision, Blizzard, and King's titles on Android first, followed by Apple's iOS.
Two parallel plans
In late 2019, Activision Blizzard decided to pursue two parallel plans under Project Boston. The first plan was to build their own mobile game store, while the second involved negotiating a deal with Google. If they secured significant savings with Google, they would deprioritize building their own store. The initial plan for the mobile store was a small project with fewer than 70 people working on it by 2021, starting with a pilot program featuring games like Candy Crush.
Deal with Google signed because of Project Hug
In January 2020, Activision Blizzard signed a deal with Google worth far more than $100 million. According to Google's partnerships boss Don Harrison, there are now "billions of dollars flowing between the two companies." Epic has claimed that Google paid Activision Blizzard not to start its own competing app store using a so-called Project Hug deal, aiming to prevent the "contagion effect" of top game developers leaving Google Play.
App store plan: Real or ploy?
In court, Epic and Google's lawyers, experts, and witnesses debated whether Activision Blizzard genuinely planned to launch the app store or if it was a ploy for leverage. One goal of the program was to "put pressure on Google (ongoing negotiations)." Zerza stated in his deposition that the app store idea was "very early exploratory discussions" and never pursued because Google's offer was more financially attractive. The company has continued to "look" at launching an app store since then.
Microsoft bought Activision Blizzard for $69bn
Back in January 2022, Microsoft announced that it was acquiring Activision Blizzard for $69 billion. The deal faced pushback from the UK competition watchdog CMA but was ultimately cleared last month. Microsoft now has access to a host of gaming titles, including the superhit video game Call of Duty, Warcraft, and Overwatch.
