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Epic Games is back with another litigation, this time taking on two of the biggest companies in the world, claiming Google and Samsung are colluding against third party apps.
Back in 2020 Epic Games sued Apple, when the latter removed Fortnite from its storefront. The reason was because the game maker, while protesting the 30% fee for in-app purchases on Apple phones, had purposefully ignored its guidelines and added its own mobile payment method for the in-game currency V-Bucks.
Soon after Google did the same and Epic Games sued them too. The lawsuit against Apple ended in 2021, with Epic Games winning one of 10 counts, meaning that Apple can no longer prohibit external payment links. The other litigation ended with the Fortnite creator winning on all counts against Google, who was found to have breached anti-trust laws.
Epic Games has now launched another lawsuit, this time accusing Samsung and Google of ‘colluding to block competition in app distribution’ – essentially arguing that it’s harder to install Fortnite via its own app on their phones.
The key factor in this lawsuit is Samsung’s default Auto Blocker feature, which is a setting that you have to disable to install Epic Games and Fortnite – or other third party apps or websites.
‘Auto Blocker is the latest in a long series of dealings in which Google and Samsung have agreed not to compete to protect Google’s monopoly power,’ said Epic Games in a press briefing.
‘Auto Blocker cements the Google Play Store as the only viable way to get apps on Samsung devices, blocking every other store from competing on a level playing field.’
The Fortnite maker adds that because the Auto Blocker is on by default it takes 21 steps to download an app outside of Google Play Store and Samsung Galaxy Store, which it claims is illegal.
Epic Games believes that Google and Samsung have ‘intentionally crafted’ the Auto Blocker feature and wants the court to ‘eliminate the Auto Blocker by default and ‘enable competition’.
It also refers to its legal win against Google in late 2023: ‘The jury found that Google’s app store practices are illegal, including the unlawful agreements Google enters into with phone manufacturers such as Samsung.’
Google has fired back against the allegations, with Dave Kleidermacher, VP Engineering, Android Security and Privacy, telling Eurogamer, ‘Epic’s latest lawsuit is a meritless and dangerous move.’
Kleidermacher also said, ‘Google did not request that Samsung create their Auto Blocker feature,’ before adding:
‘To make this about access to a game is deliberately misleading; this is about user safety. And Epic’s lawsuit puts their corporate interests above user protections.’
It remains to be seen how far the lawsuit goes but if it ends up being anything like the Epic Games vs. Apple litigation, we can expect lots of embarrassing leaks, about information neither side wanted revealed, and no real resolution.
For example, one revelation that came out of the Apple case was how Epic Games offered Sony £140 million in a deal to get up to six first party PlayStation games as Epic Games Store exclusives.
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