Epic Games' victory, although limited to Europe, brought Fortnite to all mobile devices. This process does not seem to be over yet, and there are new movements. Now, Epic Games has accused Google and Samsung subsidiary Alphabet of conspiring to protect the Google Play Store from competition.
Epic has filed a lawsuit in the United States alleging that Samsung's Auto Blocker security feature is designed to discourage users from downloading apps from sources other than the Samsung Play Store or Galaxy Store.
According to Epic Games, Samsung and Google are violating competition law by reducing consumer choice and blocking competition that would make apps cheaper and provide more alternatives to end users.
Epic CEO Tim Sweeney did not hesitate, making it clear in his statements that Google intends to make its store more secure by not allowing installation from unknown sources. Of course, it also points out that the tech giant knows very well what Fortnite is and how it works.
We have filed new antitrust and unfair competition law claims against Google and Samsung. The jury found Google's practices illegal, and we are concerned that Google is encouraging Android device makers and carriers to adopt and continue Google's illegal practices before... https://t.co/gBRFYgripd
– Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) September 30, 2024
As Epic Games reveals In a post on your website 21 steps are required for the Epic Store installation to be complete from the time of download. For now, Google is remaining silent and Samsung plans to respond "strongly to Epic Games' baseless claims."
Samsung states that users have the option to disable Auto Blocker at any time. Here Epic Games knows that its battle will be as ongoing as it has been for years, even when it faces Apple and Google over a 30% commission for small payments in both stores.
A struggle that eventually led to Fortnite being available on iPhones in the European Union, as well as worldwide on Android devices via the Google Play Store, four years later. On the other hand, Epic Games claims that Auto Blocker was designed to mitigate the impact of the ruling it obtained against Google in December 2023, which somehow forced the company to make it easier to obtain apps from other sources.
The next step for the Fortine-owned company, according to what Reuters reported on the Epic Games website itself, is to go to the European Union to share its concerns, especially when it is behind certain business practices of Google.
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