‘Fortnite’ game maker Epic Games’ lawsuit centers around the ‘Auto Blocker’ feature in Samsung phones|Santtu Pajukanta|CC BY-NC-SA 1.0 EI
Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google and Samsung, accusing them of secretly working together to limit competition from third-party app stores.
The gamemaker has been in legal battles with Google and Apple since 2020 over their app store policies. It won its case against the search engine in December.
Epic claims that the two tech giants have made it difficult for users to install alternative app stores, including its own Epic Games Store.
The lawsuit centers around the “Auto Blocker” feature, which is auto-enabled on Samsung’s newest smartphones and prevents easy access to other app stores. Epic alleges turning off the feature requires 21 steps, making Google Play the primary app store option.
Epic’s CEO, Tim Sweeney, said that about 50% of users give up on installing the company’s app store on Android due to these obstacles.
Samsung defended the Auto Blocker feature, claiming it was designed for security, while Google dismissed the lawsuit as “meritless,” arguing that users can still download third-party apps.