FORTNITE developer Epic Games finally put the popular battle royale back on iOS after years of disagreements with Apple.
Epic Games removed Fortnite from the App Store following a drawn-out legal battle with Apple over in-app purchases.
The lawsuit hinges on a Samsung feature called Auto Blocker[/caption]
Apps downloaded via Google Play or the App Store often come at an additional cost as the storefronts take a cut.
Epic Games wanted price parity across all Fortnite in-game stores and didn’t want mobile players to feel forced to switch to a different platform.
The company is now alleging that Google and Samsung are conspiring against Epic Games to deter users from downloading apps outside of the Play Store or Galaxy Store.
Epic Games has filed an antitrust lawsuit in the Federal Court of California with these new claims.
The lawsuit alleges that Samsung’s Auto Blocker was developed to deter users from downloading apps by means other than Google and Samsung’s app stores.
Epic chief executive Tim Sweeney said: “It’s about unfair competition by misleading users into thinking competitors’ products are inferior to the company’s products themselves.
“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.”
This is Epic’s second lawsuit against Google, after it won the first antitrust lawsuit in December 2023.
However, it is the first time that Epic has butted heads against Samsung which says it will “vigorously contest Epic Games’ baseless claims”.
Samsung’s Auto Blocker was introduced in 2023, and users of Samsung products may disable the feature.
The company claims that Auto Blocker was introduced in order to prevent users from downloading software that may contain malware.
The current lawsuit hinges on an update made to Auto Blocker in July 2024, which means that it is turned on by default.
Epic claims that the update intended to make Auto Blocker intentionally difficult to disable.
A spokesperson for Samsung said: “The features integrated into its devices are designed in accordance with Samsung’s core principles of security, privacy, and user control.
“We remain fully committed to safeguarding users’ personal data.”
Google has also responded to the lawsuit calling Epic’s claims “meritless” and stating that individual Android device manufacturers “are free to take their own steps to keep their users safe and secure”.
If you want to read more about the game, check out why Fortnite went offline recently.
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