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South Korea\u2019s Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) has fined<\/a> Alphabet\u2019s Google 42.1 billion won (~ $32 million) for blocking developers from releasing mobile video games on a Korean competitor platform called One Store.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n The KFTC said on Tuesday that Google allegedly required Korean video game companies to exclusively release their new games in the Play Store from June 2016 to April 2018. That means Google banned the local game makers from releasing their content on One Store in return for offering Google\u2019s in-app exposure and further support for global expansion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n One Store, a local peer of Google\u2019s Play Store, was founded in June 2016 by South Korea\u2019s three telcos \u2014 SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus \u2014 and internet giant Naver.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Google\u2019s local market share in the mobile Android app market increased to approximately 90% to 95% in 2018, up from around 80% to 85% in 2016, while One Store\u2019s market share accounted for about 5% to 10% in 2018, which fell from 15% to 20% in 2016, per the data compiled by the KFTC.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Korea\u2019s antitrust watchdog said the move is part of an effort to ensure fair competition in the app market by preventing the U.S. tech giant from abusing its dominant position.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Google Play and One Store generate more than 90% of domestic sales from selling games, according to the KTFC press release. Google\u2019s activity affected the gaming companies, from large video game makers such as NCSoft, Netmarble, and Nexon to small and mid-sized game developers, the KFTC said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe have cooperated diligently with the KFTC\u2019s investigation and deliberation process for the past five years and believe that there has been no violation of the law,\u201d a spokesperson at Google said in an emailed statement. \u201cGoogle makes substantial investments in the success of developers, and we respectfully disagree with the KFTC\u2019s conclusions. We will carefully review the final written decision once it\u2019s shared with us to evaluate the next course of action.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n In 2021, the KFTC\u00a0<\/span>fined Google $177 million<\/span><\/a>\u00a0for abusing its market dominance in the Android operating system (OS) market.<\/span><\/p>\n