Fortnite Maker Epic Games Sues Google & Samsung Over Play Store Rules, South Korean Manufacturer Responds

Epic Games has sued Google and Samsung for the alleged violation of US antitrust laws by reducing consumer choice and preventing competition from other players.

Epic Games said that Samsung deliberately made it difficult for users to disable or bypass the Auto Blocker feature.

Source : Unsplash/AppsHunter

Legal cases for Fortnite maker Epic Games seems to be an everending loop. Epic Games has now sued Google and Samsung of conspiring to protect Google Play store from competition. The Fortnite maker filed a lawsuit in the US federal court in California accusing Samsung mobile security feature called Auto Blocker of intending to deter users from downloading apps from any other source than the Google Play store and Samsung Galaxy store. 

Epic Games claimed that Samsung and Google are violating US antitrust laws by reducing consumer choice and preventing competition that would make apps less expensive. Reuters quoted the CEO of Epic Games, Tim Sweeney, as saying, "It's about unfair competition by misleading users into thinking competitors' products are inferior to the company's products themselves. Google is pretending to keep the user safe saying you're not allowed to install apps from unknown sources. Well, Google knows what Fortnite is as they have distributed it in the past."

In late 2023, Samsung introduced the Auto Blocker feature to protect users by preventing the download of apps potentially harboring malware. Initially, this was an opt-in setting, but by July, Samsung made it the default option. According to Epic, Samsung also deliberately made it more difficult for users to disable or bypass the Auto Blocker feature, tightening security measures and limiting user control over app installations.

Samsung Responds

Samsung has said that it plans to "vigorously contest Epic Games' baseless claims." The South Korean manufacturer said that users have the choice to disable Auto Blocker whenever they wish.

Samsung, in a statement, said, "The features integrated into its devices are designed in accordance with Samsung’s core principles of security, privacy, and user control, and we remain fully committed to safeguarding users' personal data."