Activision-Blizzard was working on its own download store on Android

Activision-Blizzard worked on its own download store on Android four years ago. The download store was a “plan B” if negotiations with Google on a deal didn’t work out.

The intention of the download store was that Android users could sideload it and then install games through the app. Additionally, in-app purchases and updates should have worked through the download store, reports The Verge based on court documents in the case between Epic and Google.

Activision-Blizzard called it Project Boston and it would be a small project within the company. A maximum of seventy people would be working on the download store in 2021. Initially, the company would not do any marketing for it and would only include King games. The intention was to get more money from the mobile games market by not simply agreeing to the 30 percent contribution that Google demanded from developers at the time.

Ultimately, the download store did not materialize, because Activision-Blizzard and Google struck a deal worth $360 million. That information came out last year. The information comes out through a lawsuit between Epic and Google. Google and Apple would force a monopoly position with their app stores and thus unjustifiably charge high commissions via the Play Store and App Store respectively.