Epic Games, the creator of Fortnite, is at it again. The company is accusing Google and Samsung of conspiring to give an unfair advantage to the Play platform while stifling the competition.
Earlier this year, Epic Games removed Fortnite from Samsung's Galaxy Store as a protest against the Auto Blocker security feature in One UI.
Now, Epic Games says it would file a lawsuit in U.S. federal court in California (via Reuters). The company alleges that Samsung's security feature deters users from downloading apps from other sources, such as downloading Fortnite from the Epic Games website.
Samsung is ready to fight Epic's “Baseless claims”
Enabled by default, Auto Blocker keeps users safe by preventing Android app downloads from unauthorized sources, i.e., sources other than Google Play and Galaxy Store.
Even though Galaxy device users can turn Auto Blocker off at any time, Epic Games says the feature was designed to circumvent the jury's verdict in the Epic vs. Google lawsuit won by Epic in December 2023.
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Since that verdict, Google is legally bound to allow app sideloading on Android. However, Samsung added the Auto Blocker element to its Galaxy devices as an opt-in One UI feature and later enabled it by default as an added security measure.
But in Epic Games' eyes, Google is not playing fairly. “Google is pretending to keep the user safe, saying you're not allowed to install apps from unknown sources. Well, Google knows what Fortnite is as they have distributed it in the past,” claims Epic Games.
As for Samsung's stance on Auto Blocker, the company says, “The features integrated into [Galaxy] 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.”
The Korean tech giant claimed it is ready to “vigorously contest Epic Games' baseless claims.” Meanwhile, Epic Games states it will also bring the issue to the attention of European Union regulators.
Earlier this summer, when Epic Games removed Fortnite from the Galaxy Store as a form of protest against the new Auto Blocker changes, CEO Tim Sweeney said it would “continue to support Samsung devices fully and wholeheartedly now and in the future.”
After all, Samsung is the largest Android phone manufacturer, and blocking Galaxy devices from Fortnite would likely cause an inconceivable financial loss for Epic Games.
