Epic Games sued Google and Samsung over phone settings, accusing them of violating antitrust laws

Video game maker Epic Games sued Google and Samsung on Monday, accusing the tech companies of coordinating to block third-party competition from distributing apps on Samsung devices.

The problem is Samsung’s “Auto Blocker” feature, which only allows the installation of apps from authorized sources, such as the Samsung Galaxy Store or Google Play Store. This feature is enabled by default but can be changed in your phone’s settings. According to Samsung, the tool prevents the installation of apps from unauthorized sources and blocks “malicious activity.”

In a lawsuit filed in San Francisco federal court – Epic’s second lawsuit against Google — the company says Auto Blocker is “virtually guaranteed to stay entrenched Googleits dominance over Android app distribution.” According to the complaint, Epic, the developer of the popular game “Fortnite,” filed a lawsuit to stop Google from “denying its long-overdue promise of competition in the Android App Distribution Market.”

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“Allowing this coordinated illegal anti-competitive transaction will harm developers and consumers, and undermine jury verdicts as well as legislative and regulatory processes around the world.”

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Samsung said it “actively promotes market competition, enhances consumer choice, and conducts operations fairly.”

“The features built into our devices are designed with Samsung’s core principles of security, privacy and user control in mind, and we remain fully committed to protecting personal data. user’s kernel. Users have the choice to turn off Automatic Blocker at any time,” Samsung said, adding that it plans to “strongly oppose Epic Game’s baseless claims.”

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Epic launched the Epic Games Store on iPhone in the European Union and on Android devices worldwide in August. The company claims that an “incredibly complicated 21-step process” is now required to download third-party apps outside of the Google Play Store or Samsung Galaxy Store. The support page on Epic’s website shows a four-step process for removing Autoblocker settings. Epic says those steps, combined with Google and Samsung’s “installation flow,” are part of the 21 steps to download the Epic Games Store.

Epic won its first antitrust case against Google in December after a jury found that Google’s Android app store was protected by anti-competitive barriers that harmed electricity consumers. smartphone and software developers.

The game maker said the “Auto Blocker” feature was intentionally created in coordination with Google to preemptively weaken the jury verdict in that case.

“There is literally no store that can compete with the incumbents at a disadvantage in this way,” Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said on X. “To have real competition Indeed, all reputable stores and applications must be free to compete on a level playing field.”o read ;