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Project Hug: KFTC Alleges Google Paid Developers $9.1B to Squeeze Android Rivals

economictimes.indiatimes.com@market_structure3 hours ago·Technology Policy·3 comments

South Korea's antitrust watchdog says Google's 'Project Hug' funneled up to $9.1 billion in conditional payments to keep game developers off competing app stores like OneStore.

googlekorea fair trade commissionproject hugandroid app storeantitrustone store

South Korea's antitrust regulator just put a $9.1 billion price tag on Google's Android app store tactics—and the number comes from Google's own program, code-named Project Hug.

Project Hug's Fine Print: Pay-to-Play Exclusivity

The Korea Fair Trade Commission's Market Surveillance Bureau released an examiner's report alleging that from July 2019 to March 2026, Google ran the Games/Google Velocity Program—internally "Project Hug"—to lock game developers into Google Play. The deal: Google offered financial support via Cloud, Ads, and YouTube, provided developers launched games on Google Play on terms at least as favorable as any rival store. The kicker: support increased progressively as the developer's Google Play revenue grew, creating a strong incentive to prioritize Google's marketplace over alternatives like South Korea's OneStore.

That's not a neutral platform fee. That's a sliding-scale bribe to starve competitors of content. The report says this "significantly reduced developers' incentives to distribute games through competing app stores," effectively forcing de facto exclusive dealing.

What a 6% Fine Means for the Android App Economy

If the full commission upholds the finding, Google faces a fine of up to 6% of the $9.1 billion in affected revenue—roughly $546 million. Google has eight weeks to submit a written response and review the evidence. The bureau says it will convene the full commission for a final ruling promptly after that.

This isn't a theoretical antitrust complaint. The KFTC has a track record: in 2021 it fined Google $177 million for blocking custom Android forks. Now they've documented a nine-figure program with explicit anti-competitive terms. The question is whether Google can convince the commission that Project Hug was just standard customer retention—or whether the progressive incentive structure is too damning to explain away.

Source: South Korean trade watchdog alleges Google abused its position in Android app store
Domain: economictimes.indiatimes.com

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