Google considered buying "some or all" of Epic during Fortnite clash

Epic linked its case to a state antitrust suit against Google.

[BlackIceJoe]

It definitely is interesting to think about how Epic would be under Google.

I have to imagine if this happened Google never would have closed down their game studios like Typhoon Studios.

Making Epic games exclusive to Stadia and incorporating the Epic Game Store into Stadia would have helped too.

I definitely wouldn't have liked this though. I'm just not a fan of Stadia and the thought of Google taking the Unreal Engine away from game developers definitely would have created the biggest impact to gaming in decades.

I don't even think people realise how many games use that engine, so it would have changed the landscape forever.

So it is a great thing this never happened.

[porkChop]

I think this would have been after the failure of Stadia though. In that case, Google likely would have used Epic as an entry point into the console and PC gaming markets, while probably integrating Stadia into the EGS. And I think that would have been a better approach if Google is serious about gaming.

Though with this being Google, I wouldn't be surprised if they dropped iOS support for future iterations of the Unreal Engine.

[Godmars290]

The only thing that comes to mind, given what I've heard of Google, is mismanaged.

[badz149]

but Epic has its own management. it will be like MS buying Zenimax but they are still under their own management that reports to MS now.

if this had happened, Google could have used this opportunity to really delve into the console or handheld business. imagine a Stadia console which supports both native and streaming options. with great pricing strategy, would have been a massive move.

[Godmars290]

@badz149:
"with great pricing strategy,"

Think about that, then think about the "great pricing strategy" Google released Stadia with. Do you honestly think that a company that made that measure of a mistake wouldn't do something as stupid with a major dev engine? That they wouldn't impose their own their mindset onto Epic's management.

Not that Epic's management is perfect to begin with.

[andron]

Of course, throw money at the problem. Big business...

[blacktiger]

why you getting mad, did you get mad with Microsoft, Apple, and so on? that's their game. By the way the entire system is own by bank with secret name, so go figure why we are always pay cheque to pay cheque

[Willelmus]

That's not really the same thing.

Here Google would have bought Epic to prevent it to complain about the fees owed on the play store. In the case of Microsoft, they bought Bethesda to bolster their first party offering.

This would have been done to shut up a vocal opponent of their business practices. It's real shady

[andron]

What? Not mad just pointing out the obvious...

[wiz7191]

@Will No Microsoft bought ZENIMAX because it was up for sale and they was the only publisher who could afford the asking price … don’t be mad your console of choice parent company doesn’t have the same pockets the other one has so bro it’s definitely not the same , Google wanted to buy Epic so google wouldn’t have to pay Epic.

[blacktiger]

nope they were up for sale because Microsoft request. You can do that by asking and then they put up for sale or exclusive sale. They all have story with different excuse. It's just dumb fan boy choses which is better or not.

[Teflon02]

Lmao, that would have been a big win for Google. Imagine, Epic trying to sue these guys to try maximize the profit and Google says shut up, we own you now lmao

The android games store would be alot better if they did that, that's for sure

[Petebloodyonion]

It's quite a fun read if it's true.
Buying Epic just to make sure that Fortnite is sold thru channels like Google Play Store and Apple store.

[kryteris]

they should have.

[-Hermit-]

And have Google own Unreal Engine? I can't see how that would ever be a good thing.

[antikbaka]

I'm so tired of google sticking their nose in everything possible. FCK U

[dreamed]

Good...get it bk from the CCP and then maybe we can have games that aren't all pink n purple and censored to all hell.....👍👍