Epic Games, the creator behind the massively popular Fortnite, is once again diving into the legal arena. This time, the gaming giant has filed a lawsuit against Google and Samsung, accusing the duo of engaging in anti-competitive practices to uphold their stronghold over app distribution. The heart of the dispute? Samsung’s Auto Blocker feature, which curbs third-party app stores.
Epic Games has garnered quite a reputation for its legal battles. They’ve faced off against several tech titans over the years, sometimes emerging victorious and other times facing setbacks. One of their most high-profile showdowns was against Apple in 2020. Epic took on Apple’s App Store policies, accusing the tech giant of anti-competitive behavior. The outcome? A mixed bag: while the court ruled that Apple wasn’t a monopolist under federal or state antitrust laws, it did find that Apple’s anti-steering provisions violated California’s Unfair Competition Law, giving Epic a partial victory.
This latest lawsuit sees Epic targeting two tech behemoths, Google and Samsung. The suit claims that these companies are conspiring to stifle competition in the app distribution market, particularly on Samsung devices. At the crux of the matter is Samsung’s Auto Blocker feature, introduced in 2023. This feature prevents users by default from installing apps from third-party sources, necessitating a cumbersome 21-step process to override it.
Epic alleges that the Auto Blocker was designed to protect Google’s app distribution dominance, contravening a prior court ruling against Google. According to Epic, this move boosts Google’s Play Store as the only easily accessible choice for app downloads on Samsung devices, thereby quashing competition.
Through this lawsuit, Epic aims to ensure that Samsung removes Auto Blocker as a default setting, arguing that the court’s decision in Epic v. Google should be respected to prevent further anti-competitive practices. Epic has previously scored a win against Google in the US courts over Play Store’s billing monopoly, and it remains to be seen if they’ll repeat this success.
Epic Games continues to fight against what it perceives as monopolistic practices in the tech world, and this lawsuit is yet another chapter in its legal saga. As the battle unfolds, only time will tell if Epic will secure another victory in its ongoing quest for a more open app distribution ecosystem.
