Brenda Kanana
Epic Games, known for its courtroom battles, has launched another legal fight—this time targeting Google and Samsung. The lawsuit claims that both companies have been restraining new app stores or alternatives like Epic Games Store from appearing on Samsung devices.
The core of Epic’s grievance is Samsung’s new change to Auto Blocker, which does not allow users to install apps from unapproved sources. Although the feature was optional at first, it was made standard in July 2024, a month prior to the opening of the Epic Games Store on mobile devices.
Epic says this action was intentional in suppressing competition and maintaining the dominance of the Google Play Store. As stated in the lawsuit, the change was made in collaboration with Google, whose Play Store accounts for 30% of the app revenue.
Samsung implements 21-step process to disable Auto Blocker
According to Epic, Samsung makes it almost impossible for users to download and use the Epic Games Store because it activates the Auto Blocker feature by default. In a statement, Epic noted that to disable the Auto Blocker, players must complete an ‘onerous’ 21-step procedure, which the company detailed in the filing. This level of complexity, Epic noted, will dissuade many users from even trying to disable the feature, thus making them stick with Google’s Play Store.
Samsung Auto Blocker is a security feature that aims to protect users from downloading intrusive and hazardous applications. However, Epic argues that this security rationale is an excuse to keep Google as the only gatekeeper for app distribution on Android devices. Epic’s legal filing states that Samsung had never enforced similar conditions on third-party app stores before.
Tim Sweeney, the CEO of Epic Games, explained how these restrictions are detrimental to developers and consumers. According to Sweeney, it is hard to join the commission model of Google, especially when extraneous stores cannot offer a convenient interface to customers. He said that Google Play has offered an 88% revenue split to the developers, but barriers like these make the developers less competitive and force the users back to Google Play.
Lawsuit follows recent legal victory against Google Play Store
Sweeney also pointed out that the Auto Blocker change was made right before the launch of Epic’s mobile store. The lawsuit also points out that this restriction by Samsung is consistent with ‘unusual levels of communication’ between the two firms, and Epic has claimed this as a quid pro quo.
This lawsuit comes after another recent legal win that Epic secured against Google. In which, a jury ruled that Google’s Play Store conduct was anticompetitive. Even though that judgment allowed Epic to legally operate its store on Android devices, the company claims that Google and Samsung continue to hinder competition.
Epic’s lawsuit has similarities to Apple’s actions in the app store especially in Europe. According to the EU’s Digital Markets Act, Apple is prohibited from preventing users of iOS devices from installing third-party stores.
