SEOUL (CNA) – South Korea’s antitrust regulator has fined Alphabet’s Google KRW42.1 billion (USD31.88 million) for blocking the release of mobile video games on a competitor’s platform.
The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) said yesterday that Google bolstered its market dominance, and hurt local app market One Store’s revenue and value as a platform, by requiring video game makers to exclusively release their titles on Google Play in exchange for providing in-app exposure between June 2016 and April 2018.
Google said it will review the final decision by the KFTC to evaluate the next course of action.
“Google makes substantial investments in the success of developers, and we respectfully disagree with the KFTC’s conclusions,” a spokesperson for the regulator said.
The KFTC said the move against the United States (US) technology giant is part of efforts by the government to ensure fair markets. In 2021, Google was fined more than KRW200 billion by the KFTC for blocking customised versions of its Android operating system.
