Securing game exclusivities has been a stable for console makers for several generations, and it seems that this practice finally reached mobile platforms.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Google and Apple has started offering top developers and publishers prominent placement on their App stores in exchange for timed exclusivity.
Apple has already succeeded at securing two months exclusivity for EA's Plants vs. Zombies 2 and 3 months for ZeptoLab's Cut the Rope 2 in exchange for a large box at the top of the App Store's home page.
To the extent of our knowledge, Google hasn't been able to struck deals of similar magnitude; The company however completed several smaller deals such as promoting Game Insight's Russian app in a specific section of Google Play Store in exchange for having in-game items shaped like Android's robot mascot at a discounted price.
Both Apple and Google don't offer any money in exchange for game exclusivity.
In the first 3 months of 2014 Google Play downloads exceeded those of Apple's App Store by 45%. On the other hand, App Store accumulated 85% more revenue than its competitor during the same period. The largest portions of both stores' money come from games which account for 75% of App Store's revenue and 90% of Play Store's.
Before Android became a real threat to iPhone, Apple used to have an editorial board decide on which Apps to promote based only on the App's quality without regard to any other business considerations. As competition with Android heated up, the board was instructed to take exclusivity and developer relations in consideration. Whether or not this will have long term effect on the credibility of App Store promotions remains to be seen.
As usual, none of Google, Apple, EA or ZeptoLab agreed to comment on the story.