Epic sets its lawyers on Google and Samsung

The video games developer is no stranger to a lawsuit. This latest call to the lawyers comes less than a year after it won a long-running case against Google for running an illegal app-store monopoly via Google Play that caused competitive harm to the likes of Epic.

That verdict should have been the end of Epic's problems, and indeed, it successfully launched its own app store, the aptly-named Epic Games Store, on Android and iOS as recently as August.

However, the story does not end there, as this new lawsuit clearly indicates. In it Epic basically accuses Google and Samsung of working together to block third party app stores, such as its own.

Its case centres on Auto Blocker, a feature on Samsung devices that disables the user's ability to install apps from unauthorised sources, its aim being to protect the device and block malicious activity. As Epic notes, that means it blocks apps from any sources other than the Google Play Store and the Samsung Galaxy Store.

Samsung introduced Auto Blocker a year ago as an opt-in feature, Epic says. However, it changed tack and made it a default setting in July, coincidentally – possibly – right before the launch of Epic Games Store.

And it seems it is mightily difficult to turn it off.

Epic claims that as a result of Auto Blocker being automatically turned on, it is "an exceptionally onerous 21-step process" to download an app from any other location than the Google Play Store or the Samsung Galaxy Store.

Assuming that is actually the case, it goes without saying that there's a significant barrier to companies like Epic Games in getting their apps in front of users.

"Our litigation alleges that Samsung's recent implementation of the Auto Blocker feature was intentionally crafted in coordination with Google to preemptively undermine the US District Court's remedy following the jury's verdict in Epic's case against Google," Epic said. "The jury found that Google's app store practices are illegal, including the unlawful agreements Google enters into with phone manufacturers such as Samsung."

Epic did not stop there in its blistering attack on Google.

As the previous court case showed, "Google is in the habit of paying OEMs billions to prevent competition," it claimed.

"For example, as the world's largest Android phone manufacturer, Samsung's Galaxy Store is well-positioned to be a meaningful competitor to the Google Play Store. The shady handshake deals proposed by senior Google executives to Samsung and the agreements they have entered into were designed to disadvantage competition and enrich Google's bottom line at the expense of developers and consumers."

Google disagrees, naturally.

"Epic's latest lawsuit is a meritless and dangerous move. Google did not request that Samsung create their Auto Blocker feature," said Dave Kleidermacher, VP of Engineering, Android Security and Privacy, at Google, in a statement, in which he highlighted the risks associated with downloading apps direct from the Internet.

"To make this about access to a game is deliberately misleading; this is about user safety," he said. "And Epic's lawsuit puts their corporate interests above user protections."

There's nothing, as yet, from Samsung.

Epic is asking the court to require Samsung to eliminate the Auto Blocker by default. That might seem like a fairly simple request, but as history has taught us, these types of court case are rarely quick or straightforward.

The lawyer bills will likely be huge, but Epic Games is at least gaining some airtime for its problem.