Just a month and a half after publisher Epic Games moved to make its games, including Fortnite, available on third-party app stores, it’s now suing tech giants Samsung and Google over access to those app stores.
In a post in its website, Epic Games accuses the two companies of blocking access to those third-party app stores, which compete with Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store. Epic says that an opt-in feature introduced last year by Samsung, Auto Blocker, is now on by default as of July, making it more difficult for Samsung mobile users to access third-party app stores such as AltStore Pal or OneStore. The company says it now takes 21 steps to get around Auto Blocker to access those storefronts.
“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,” Epic said in its post. “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 Epic Games lawsuit is just the latest salvo in an ongoing war that the games maker and publisher has waged against Google and, primarily, Apple, over fees those companies charge when companies sell apps or in-game content through its storefronts. Epic sued Apple and Google previously in 2020 and has mixed results. Epic lost one suit in 2021, and another in 2023 against Apple, but dealt a blow to Google late last year in an antitrust suit.
Epic argues that players should have the freedom to install apps from storefronts other than Apple’s App Store and Google Play that set their own fee structures; it has its own storefront called Epic Games Store. Meanwhile Apple and Google say their stores are more secure and protect against malware. They say the fees involved, 30 percent of app sales, pay for the high costs of maintaining those stores.
“Contrary to Epic Game’s assertions, Samsung actively fosters market competition, enhances consumer choice, and conducts its operations fairly,” said a spokesperson for Samsung. “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. We plan to vigorously contest Epic Game’s baseless claims.”
Complicating things is that Europe has been holding tech companies to higher levels of scrutiny over monopolistic practices — as such, Epic Games has been able to offer more access to its games via third-party apps in those countries than in the U.S.
Google did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.