Epic Games files antitrust suit against Samsung and Google

Epic Games is suing Samsung and Google over the Galaxy's 'Auto Blocker' feature.

A poster featuring Fortnite's collaboration with Dune (2021) [EPIC GAMES]

Epic Games, the game developer and publisher behind Fortnite, is suing Samsung Electronics and Google, accusing the tech giants of conspiring to prevent Galaxy owners from downloading apps outside of the Play Store.

The litigation is part of Epic's long-running legal crusade against the overwhelming dominance of the Play Store and App Store over the global mobile market. It is the North Carolina firm's second antitrust suit against Google and first involving Samsung, the world's largest smartphone maker by shipment as of the second quarter of this year.

Epic, in the suit, points to a feature called “Auto Blocker” the smartphone manufacturer rolled out late last year that blocks the installation of software from “unauthorized sources” — referring, Epic says in the suit, to any origin outside of Google's and Samsung's app stores — a process commonly known as side-loading.

Auto Blocker was off by default at the time of its release — but Samsung changed that, the lawsuit alleges, this summer, just weeks before Epic rolled its own Epic Games store out to Android and iOS devices in the European Union. The feature is now enabled by default on the Galaxy Z Flip and Fold 6, the two phones Samsung has shipped since flipping the switch. Turning it off, Epic claims, requires 21 steps.

“We are filing a court case against Google and Samsung over coordinated efforts to block competition in app distribution on Samsung devices with Samsung’s default-on Auto Blocker feature,” Epic Games said in a statement, adding that it has asked a court “to mandate that Samsung eliminate the Auto Blocker by default and enable competition.”

“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,” Epic Games said.

Samsung and Google both denied the allegations.

A Samsung Electronics spokesperson said that Auto Blocker was “designed to protect privacy and prevent security risks,” adding that “the latest update asks users, in an initial setup procedure, about the activation of the function” and that it can be “deactivated at any time.”

Shin Seung-won, head of the security team at Samsung’s smartphone business division, touted the feature's ability to detect and block malicious apps at the time of its launch.

A screen capture that shows the multiple steps required to download the Epic Games app on a Galaxy device. [EPIC GAMES]

“This is a meritless lawsuit. Android device makers are free to take their own steps to keep their users safe and secure,” Google said in a statement. Its head of security also recently claimed on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the company “did not request that Samsung create their Auto Blocker feature.”

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney said that he'd privately asked Samsung to either return Auto Blocker to the off-by-default state or create a process by which legitimate third-party app stores could bypass it, but that the two parties did not reach an agreement, in a roundtable interview reported by The Verge.

Epic pulled Fortnite from Samsung's Galaxy Store in July, a move that Sweeney stated on X was “in protest of their new policy of blocking side-loading.”

The company sued both Google and Apple on Aug. 14, 2020, accusing both of anticompetitive behavior regarding their app stores and payment systems, after Fortnite attempted to circumvent the up to 30 percent commission that both companies charged on in-app purchases and was removed from both stores.

California Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled largely in favor of Apple in September 2021 but ordered the company to abolish rules banning developers from telling users about alternative payment systems. That conflict is still ongoing; both sides have made failed attempts to appeal, and the companies are now in court again with Epic complaining that Apple has not fully complied with Rogers' 2021 ruling.

On the other hand, a California jury unanimously found Google's Play Store and payment system to be an illegal monopoly in December 2023. Google plans to appeal that verdict.

BY YUN JEONG-MIN, LEE HEE-KWON, PARK EUN-JEE [park.eunjee@joongang.co.kr]