Activision Blizzard Is Considering Launching Its Own Game Store For Android

In 2019, Activision Blizzard King (ABK) explored ways to increase revenue by changing its relationship with Google and developed a strategy called Project Boston, which included an Android game store as an option. This reportedly came to light during the trial between Epic Games and Google The edge.

Image source: activisionblizzard.com

In order to increase revenue in the mobile segment, Activision Blizzard decided at the end of 2019 to implement two parallel plans. The first was to create its own games store for Android – the company was ready to launch it either independently or with the support of colleagues such as Epic Games and Supercell, the publisher of Clash of Clans. It was assumed that the user can download the store’s client application from the platform’s website, install it on their Android phone and download and update games such as Candy Crush, Call of Duty Mobile and Diablo Immortal.

In correspondence with Epic CEO Tim Sweeney, Activision Blizzard CFO Armin Zerza described the platform as “mobile Steam” – a central place to purchase mobile games with a single payment system. It was assumed that the platform’s transaction commission would be 10-12%, significantly lower than the 30% charged by Google, Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft and Steam. If the plan had worked, Activision Blizzard would have tried to do the same for the iPhone, which would have eventually included games from Activision, Blizzard, King, and possibly third-party developers. First on Android and then on Apple iOS.

But Activision Blizzard was willing to abandon that plan if the second Project Boston idea worked. The company was simultaneously negotiating with Google for a deal worth more than $100 million – as it should be “Ensuring higher economic performance in the mobile segment, on YouTube, in advertising, promotion in media and social networks as well as in the area of ​​cloud technologies”. In both cases, Activision Blizzard would have made more money than simply paying Google a 30% commission. The Project Boston document indicates that the company ultimately only wanted to consider one of the options. “If we can achieve real savings with Google, we will abandon option 2.”, – printed in bold in the document. And it is explained that “Option 2” means “Create your own mobile shop”.

Image source: Mohamed Hassan / pixabay.com

If Activision Blizzard had chosen the second option, the store would have appeared in 2019 or 2020. The company planned to launch the project in MVP (Minimum Viable Product) format without much fanfare. At first it was not about marketing and promotions, the catalog would only contain King games, including Candy Crush, the website would only operate in the USA and its workforce would be less than 70 people by 2021. If successful, Activision Blizzard and Battle.net resources would join work on the platform and the store would begin acquiring new features, including multiple account support and push notifications. The time would come in 2021 “ABK solution on a large scale” featuring the company’s full suite of mobile games and more.

However, this never happened, as Activision Blizzard managed to sign an agreement with Google worth well over $100 million – a corresponding document signed by ABK CFO and Google Senior Vice President Hiroshi Lockheimer was shown in the courtroom. According to Epic Games, Google actually paid Activision Blizzard for the game maker’s refusal to open its own app store – the search giant is conducting this series of deals under the general name Project Hug. The program aims to combat “Contagion effect”: The company feared that after Epic Games, other leading game developers would also leave Google Play, which would cause irreparable financial damage to the App Store.

In the courtroom, representatives of the parties, witnesses and lawyers did not agree on whether Activision Blizzard actually had the intention to launch its own app store: from various testimonies it appeared that Google actually saw this option as a real threat, but there is It is also a reasonable version that the game manufacturer used this plan from the start as a means of exerting pressure against the search giant. Even the CFO of ABK admitted that a workforce of 45-70 people would not be enough to launch such a project even in MVP format – in reality, several hundred specialists would be required. And with Activision Blizzard now owned by Microsoft, the conflict over the mobile app store would be even more intense.