Epic Games sues Google and Samsung alleging collusion to block Play Store alternatives

What just happened? Never one to shy away from a lawsuit against some of the tech world's biggest players, Epic Games is now suing Google (again) and Samsung over an alleged coordinated effort to block Play Store alternatives being installed on Samsung devices.

Epic Games highlights Samsung Galaxy's Auto Blocker feature as the "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 and similar features can prevent users from sideloading apps from alternative app stores – i.e., not Google's Play Store or Samsung's Galaxy Store – on Samsung's mobile devices.

Auto Blocker was introduced as an opt-in feature in October 2023, but it became the default setting in July, the month before Epic launched its mobile app store. Samsung says the feature protects users from applications from unauthorized sources ...