According to Reuters, South Korea’s antitrust regulators fined Alphabet Inc. (Google) 42.1 billion won ($31.88 million) for preventing mobile games from being released on a competitor’s platform.
The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) stated on Tuesday that Google used its market dominance to harm the revenue and value of the local app market One Store as a platform by requiring video game developers to only release their titles on Google Play in exchange for in-app exposure between June 2016 and April 2018.
Google spokesperson responded to the claim by stating “Google makes substantial investments in the success of developers, and we respectfully disagree with the KFTC’s conclusions”
According to the KFTC, the decision was part of the government’s efforts to maintain fair markets.
Google’s move negatively impacted Netmarble, Nexon, and NCSOFT, as well as other smaller enterprises.
