Epic Games is suing Google — once again — for anticompetitive practices, this time adding Samsung to the mix. The “Fortnite” developer accused the two tech giants of conspiring to block users from downloading its games on Monday.
The issue, according to Epic’s lawsuit obtained by TheWrap, is Samsung’s “Auto Blocker” feature. Auto Blocker — which, on Samsung devices, is automatically turned on — prevents users from downloading apps and games from third parties, unless they follow an “exceptionally onerous” 21-step process.
“When Auto Blocker is set to on and users attempt to download the Epic Games Store or other Epic apps, Samsung falsely states that those apps are ‘unknown’ even though Samsung is aware of these apps and has listed some of them on the Samsung Galaxy Store for years,” Epic said in its lawsuit.
The Samsung-Google “group boycott,” the game-maker added, has no “legitimate rationale” beyond attacking independent app developers. This “anticompetitive conduct” has circumvented antitrust laws and “harmed” the game developer.
“Contrary to Epic Games’ assertions, Samsung actively fosters market competition, enhances consumer choice and conducts its operations fairly,” a Samsung spokesperson told TheWrap Tuesday. “The features integrated into our 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. Users have the choice to disable Auto Blocker at any time.”
Google did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
This isn’t the first time Epic and Google have battled in court. Epic first sued Google four years ago, claiming the company violated antitrust laws by maintaining an illegal app monopoly — something that allowed it to thwart competition and charge app developers excessive fees (on its Play Store, Google charges app makers a 15% fee for customer payments for subscriptions and up to 30% for purchases made within popular apps that are downloaded from the store).
Last December, a San Francisco jury sided with Epic, finding Google, via its Play Store, had a monopoly over Android app distribution and billing. Samsung’s Auto Blocker feature, Epic argued on Monday, undermines the court’s antitrust ruling.
