The latest lawsuit alleges Google and Samsung are colluding to keep Android owners from installing the Epic Games Store on their devices.
Having pulled out an unexpected win in its years-long courtroom with tech colossus Google, Epic Games has decided it wants another go-around, and this time it’s dragging Samsung into the fight for good measure.
As amusing as it is to imagine Epic CEO Tim Sweeney telling Tim Cook to “get more guys to make it a fair fight”, Samsung is actually at the core of this particular lawsuit. The issue turns on Epic’s plan to launch its own store on Android devices, which will enable it to distribute its own games, and eventually others, without having to pay a huge cut in revenues. Epic is legally allowed to do so after its courtroom victory—and it has—but Google and Samsung, so Epic alleges, are making the process as difficult as possible in order to dissuade users from actually using it.
“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 wrote in its lawsuit announcement. “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. 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.
“Our litigation alleges that Samsung’s recent implementation of the Auto Blocker feature was intentionally crafted in coordination with Google to preemptively undermine the U.S. District Court’s remedy following the jury’s verdict in Epic’s case against Google. The jury found that Google’s app store practices are illegal, including the unlawful agreements Google enters into with phone manufacturers such as Samsung.
