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Google’s ‘Project Hug’ paid out huge sums to keep game devs in the Play Store

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Re: Google’s ‘Project Hug’ paid out huge sums to keep game devs in the Play Store

#271

Post by kyrra »

Shubham28 wrote: post #265
anaganisk wrote: post #256

The silence of googlers when articles like this come up is funny. They jump in like a rabbit, about every google post. Showing off all their google stuff. When things like this come up they pretend they’re busy coding (something something api to help their ad company). We as devs made them mega corps, seriously. Even the worst privacy nightmare inducing API, was coded by someone. Money sure drives everything, people…

Googlers can't reply to posts like this, irrespective of where they stand on the issue, because this is an ongoing legal matter. Disclaimer - I am a Googler. P.S. Rather than passing snark comments about what others do, maybe try talking to any of them. Any employee of a significantly sized company could have guessed that.

Googler, opinions are my own.

100% this. Even if we come here and express our opinions, or even express them internally on discussion forums and email, or chat, any of those communications are open to discovery by the plaintiff. If the plaintiff sees any value to anything an employee of the defendant company says, said employee could then be pulled into the lawsuit, be deposed, and many other non-fun things.

Well I'm sure there are many googlers out there that would love to comment on this, for our own sanity, we likely wouldn't.

Re: Google’s ‘Project Hug’ paid out huge sums to keep game devs in the Play Store

#272

Post by echelon »

TheRealNGenius wrote: post #267
echelon wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's time to split the Famgopolies. Apple and Google shouldn't be in so many different businesses, killing everything in their wake. Why the hell does Apple have a film studio? Why does Google have a game studio and cloud? If they keep going, they'll be the MGM and Whole Foods too. (Oh, wait!) Famgopolies also shouldn't be allowed to dictate their payments stacks, software distribution systems, app approval processes…

You don't get it, what you describe is not necessarily a monopoly.

You don't need to be a monopoly to be a cartel or take part in anticompetitive behavior that would draw the ire of Congress or the DOJ. I think we've seen sufficient evidence in this to call for having both Google and Apple split up.

Famgopoly is just a play on words to describe these never before seen emergent phenomena. You're right - they're not monopolies. They're something new the world has never seen before.

Famgopolies.

Re: Google’s ‘Project Hug’ paid out huge sums to keep game devs in the Play Store

#273

Post by TheRealNGenius »

echelon wrote: post #272
TheRealNGenius wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't get it, what you describe is not necessarily a monopoly.

You don't need to be a monopoly to be a cartel or take part in anticompetitive behavior that would draw the ire of Congress or the DOJ. I think we've seen sufficient evidence in this to call for having both Google and Apple split up. Famgopoly is just a play on words to describe these never before seen emergent phenomena. You're right - they're not monopolies. They're something new the world has never seen before. Fa…

Sure, but the examples you gave were not examples of this. Just because they are in different markets doesn't mean monopoly; only when they have overwhelming influence on a certain market would they qualify as such. Of which you rightly point out they most likely do in certain cases.

Re: Google’s ‘Project Hug’ paid out huge sums to keep game devs in the Play Store

#274

Post by int_19h »

solarkraft wrote: post #223
bushbaba wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s likely the payoff is also to prevent apple from building its own search engine to compete. As googles payoff is so lucrative

There have been reports and speculation that they’re doing just that. Of course it’s worth it for the negotiation threat alone, but Apple also really doesn’t seem to like depending on Google. I personally can’t see them switching any time soon, as DuckDuckGo’s search results are something between worse to terrible and I’m not sure they can do much better without collecting more data.

That sounds like a cartel to me.

Re: Google’s ‘Project Hug’ paid out huge sums to keep game devs in the Play Store

#276

Post by squarefoot »

anaganisk wrote: post #256

The silence of googlers when articles like this come up is funny. They jump in like a rabbit, about every google post. Showing off all their google stuff. When things like this come up they pretend they’re busy coding (something something api to help their ad company). We as devs made them mega corps, seriously. Even the worst privacy nightmare inducing API, was coded by someone. Money sure drives everything, people…

I'm neither a Googler and definitely not a Google fan, but it seems pretty normal to me. At every company I worked for (nothing even close to a fraction of Google) the contract I had to sign contained clauses that would give them enough rope and bullets to hang and shoot me if I did anything that could harm the company in any way, including comments, and there were no social media back then. Googlers might be forced to stay silent, possibly also barred from participating in discussions to defend the employer, which in case of a lawsuit could make sense since what they say or write could be used against the employer.

Re: Google’s ‘Project Hug’ paid out huge sums to keep game devs in the Play Store

#277

Post by int_19h »

slownews45 wrote: post #242
jimbob45 wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s it, right? That’s the game? There’s no way the DoJ doesn’t have a slam-dunk case with that one quote.

I thought this was public knowledge - they compete in some areas and cooperate in others? For a long time Google was the Apple maps provider (exclusive) on Apple - they had near seamless integration there and in a variety of areas (search etc) - very much acting as one company. They competed in other areas (google photos on iphone has always been very much second class), google music has struggled vs the apple music…

These materials make it sound like they have agreed to split the market such that any competition in areas that are vital to one of the companies involved is deliberately self-limiting. The examples they give is that Apple could potentially compete with Google for search, and that Google could push Android much more aggressively into market segments that Apple currently owns. So as consumers, we're not seeing the fruits of free market competition we're entitled to.

Re: Google’s ‘Project Hug’ paid out huge sums to keep game devs in the Play Store

#278

Post by finebalance »

tentacleuno wrote: post #202
ctvo wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The new FTC chair, Lina Khan, read this like Birdman, rubbing her hands.

Is she more ethical than Ajit Paid?

Death row inmates are more ethical than that man.

Re: Google’s ‘Project Hug’ paid out huge sums to keep game devs in the Play Store

#279

Post by timmg »

Aunche wrote: post #275

I don't understand Epic's complaint here. Google doesn't want want to lose business to Samsung, so they offer incentives to maintain a competitive advantage.

Doesn't Epic pay money to game makers to keep them (if temporarily) off Steam?

Is that materially different than this case? (Is it that Google already has a strong market position and Epic is an upstart?)

Re: Google’s ‘Project Hug’ paid out huge sums to keep game devs in the Play Store

#280

Post by anaganisk »

squarefoot wrote: post #276
anaganisk wrote: post #256

The silence of googlers when articles like this come up is funny. They jump in like a rabbit, about every google post. Showing off all their google stuff. When things like this come up they pretend they’re busy coding (something something api to help their ad company). We as devs made them mega corps, seriously. Even the worst privacy nightmare inducing API, was coded by someone. Money sure drives everything, people…

I'm neither a Googler and definitely not a Google fan, but it seems pretty normal to me. At every company I worked for (nothing even close to a fraction of Google) the contract I had to sign contained clauses that would give them enough rope and bullets to hang and shoot me if I did anything that could harm the company in any way, including comments, and there were no social media back then. Googlers might be forced…

If voicing our opinion is controlled by the corporate. Im not sure how free we are. Yes I understand the life changing implications of this. But, we every step taken back, is a mistake we might regret.
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