New Delhi: South Korea’s antitrust regulator on Tuesday fined Google and its regional arms 42.1 billion won (more than $31.8 million) for unfair business practices aimed at consolidating their dominance in the Korean mobile gaming app market.
According to the Fair Trade Commission (FTC), the US-based global tech giant struck shady deals with South Korean mobile game companies between June 2016 and April 2018, banning them from releasing their content on the One Store. ,Also Read: Up To Rs 12,000 Discount On OnePlus 9 5G; Check out where and how to get it,
The One Store is a major domestic app market launched by South Korea’s three mobile carriers along with Naver Corp in January 2016, reports Yonhap news agency. ,ALSO READ: HDFC cuts MCLR for select tenors; EMI will decrease – Check revised loan rates,
“Google analyzed that the launch of the One Store, a competitive and comprehensive app marketplace, would have a major impact on its sales in South Korea,” the FTC said.
Under the agreement, the US behemoth asked game companies to release their content exclusively on its platform Google Play, in exchange for marketing the content as “featured” as well as providing other marketing benefits. For.
Being aware of a potential violation of fair trade rules, the FTC required Google to internally delete emails concerning its employees and discuss the issues offline, the FTC said.
The regulator said the agreement helped Google consolidate its dominance in the local app market.
Google, which had about 80 to 85 percent of the local app market in terms of amount spent in 2016, was able to increase its presence to 90 to 95 percent in 2018, according to data compiled by the FTC.
On the other hand, the FTC said that One Store fell from 15-20 percent to only 5-10 percent during this period. “The availability of the same game across multiple app stores promotes competition, with diversified content and benefits consumers,” the regulator said.
“By blocking the release of games on the One Store, Google has stifled innovation and consumer benefits in the app market and mobile gaming sector.” The fine, along with a corrective order, will be imposed on Google, Google Korea and Google Asia Pacific.
Google said it did not agree with the Korean FTC’s ruling, claiming it had not violated any local competition laws.
“We compete vigorously with other app markets and are proud of the benefits we offer through Google Play to developers, including the gaming industry and everyday users,” the US tech giant said in a statement. “Unlike some mobile operating systems, Android gives developers complete control over how their apps are distributed.”
“Google invests substantially in the success of developers, and we respectfully disagree with the KFTC’s findings,” it said. It said it would determine its future course of action against the FTC after carefully reviewing the written decision.