Apple, Google battle to offer exclusive gaming apps: Report

Apple Inc and Google Inc are wooing game developers to ensure that top game titles arrive first on devices powered by their respective operating system, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Both the companies are trying to lure game developers by offering premium placement to these games on their app stores' home pages and features lists, the daily said.

Both Google and Apple were not immediately available for comment outside regular U.S. business hours.

Apple had struck a deal with Electronic Arts Inc last August to promote the game "Plants Vs Zombies 2" prominently in its App Store, and had a similar arrangement with ZeptoLab to promote the sequel to its popular puzzle game "Cut the Rope", which released in December, the Journal reported:

Last August, for the launch of "Plants Vs. Zombies 2," a highly anticipated sequel to a popular zombie-survival strategy game, publisher Electronic Arts Inc. struck a deal with Apple, which promoted the game prominently in its App Store, according to people familiar with the matter.

In exchange, one of these people said, EA agreed to give Apple about a two-month window of exclusivity for the title, which wasn't released on Google's Android software until October.

Google has been doing its bit, according to the report:

Google has struck deals to help promote apps that integrate Android branding. In one example in March, Game Insight, a popular Russian app developer, says it offered discounts on items shaped like Android's robot mascot that were sold within a game. In return, Google agreed to feature the company's app in a specific section of its app store.

Emily Greer, head of Kongregate, a gaming service owned by retailer GameStop, spoke to WSJ and likened the contest to an "arms race" for the best content.

"When people love a game, and it's not available on an alternate platform, they'll change platforms," she said. "The level of attachment a person has to a game can exceed almost anything."

Edited by NDTV staff from original story by Reuters