Epic Games starts Battle Royale with Samsung, Google over app store practices

Alleges Korean giant's app store lockdown is no accident, and anticompetitive

Updated Epic Games has launched another lawsuit in pursuit of its goal of selling its apps direct rather than through platform owners' app stores – this time placing Samsung in its sights.

A complaint [PDF] filed on Monday points out that Google's Play store is installed on most of the world's Android smartphones other than those sold in China, and is the source of 80 percent of app downloads.

Epic alleges that Samsung's own Galaxy Store makes it onto 40 percent of 'droids but accounts for just one percent of apps.

"The lack of competition between Samsung and Google is no coincidence," the complaint alleges, going on to argue that the two tech giants have reached a cozy deal whereby Google shares revenue with Samsung, contingent on the Korean giant pulling its punches in the app store market.

Of particular interest to Epic is a feature Samsung includes in some phones called Auto Blocker, which Samsung spruiks as "preventing the installation of applications from unauthorized sources and blocking malicious activity." Samsung thinks that's a good idea because it helps to improve smartphone security.

Epic alleges it's more than that, because the feature was opt-in until Samsung turned it on by default from July 2024. Avoiding Auto Blocker requires "an exceptionally onerous 21-step process to download an app outside of the Google Play Store or the Samsung Galaxy Store," states an Epic post dated Monday. The software is therefore "the first time that Samsung has imposed additional friction on consumers" when they try to get apps from a source other than Google or Samsung.

Epic asserts that Auto Blocker is a workaround that Samsung and Google think will help them to evade past rulings about anticompetitive behavior. It wants the US District Court for Northern California "to prohibit Samsung's and Google's anticompetitive and unfair conduct and mandate that Samsung eliminate the Auto Blocker by default and enable competition."

The suit is the first time Samsung has faced such scrutiny from Epic.

Samsung sent us the following statement:

Contrary to Epic Game's assertions, Samsung actively fosters market competition, enhances consumer choice, and conducts its operations fairly. 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.

A Google spokesperson told The Register "“This is a meritless lawsuit. Android device makers are free to take their own steps to keep their users safe and secure.”

Epic Games has long pursued its competition cause against Apple, Google, and Samsung, arguing that the mobile giants use their platforms to control software distribution channels in ways that make it hard for developers to sell direct, or to avoid high fees for using app stores and payment schemes. The developer has had mixed success – losing its case against Apple, but winning against Google. It has also forced changes such as the inclusion of links that allow users to pay for software with a credit card – and pay developers directly – even when they shop on app stores. ®

UPDATED at 07:00 UTC

The Register has added comments received from Samsung and Google to this story.