Samsung and Epic Games Call a Truce In App Store Lawsuit (arstechnica.com)
(Monday July 07, 2025 @11:30PM (BeauHD)
from the changes-incoming dept.)
- Reference: 0178305086
- News link: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/07/07/2128217/samsung-and-epic-games-call-a-truce-in-app-store-lawsuit
- Source link: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/07/samsung-and-epic-games-call-a-truce-in-app-store-lawsuit/
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica:
> Epic Games, buoyed by the massive success of Fortnite, has spent the last few years throwing elbows in the mobile industry to get its app store on more phones. It scored an antitrust win against Google in late 2023, and the following year it [1]went after Samsung for deploying "Auto Blocker" on its Android phones, which would make it harder for users to install the Epic Games Store. Now, the parties have [2]settled the case just days before Samsung will unveil its latest phones .
>
> The Epic Store drama began several years ago when the company defied Google and Apple rules about accepting outside payments in the mega-popular Fortnite. Both stores pulled the app, and Epic sued. Apple emerged victorious, with Fortnite only returning to the iPhone recently. Google, however, [3]lost the case after Epic showed it worked behind the scenes to stymie the development of app stores like Epic's. Google is still working to avoid penalties in that long-running case, but Epic thought it smelled a conspiracy last year. It filed a similar lawsuit against Samsung, accusing it of implementing a feature to block third-party app stores. The issue comes down to the addition of a feature to Samsung phones called Auto Blocker, which is similar to Google's new Advanced Protection in Android 16. It protects against attacks over USB, disables link previews, and scans apps more often for malicious activity. Most importantly, it blocks app sideloading. Without sideloading, there's no way to install the Epic Games Store or any of the content inside it.
>
> Auto Blocker is enabled by default on Samsung phones, but users can opt out during setup. Epic claimed in its suit that the sudden inclusion of this feature was a sign that Google was working with Samsung to stand in the way of alternative app stores again. Epic has apparently gotten what it wanted from Samsung -- CEO Tim Sweeney has announced that Epic is dropping the case in light of a new settlement.
Sweeney said Samsung "will address Epic's concerns," without elaborating on the details. Samsung may stop making Auto Blocker the default or create a whitelist of apps, like the Epic Games Store, that can bypass Auto Blocker. Another possibility is that Epic and select third-party stores are granted special access while Auto Blocker remains on for others, balancing security and openness.
A "more interesting outcome," according to Ars, would be for Samsung to pre-install the Epic Games Store on its new phones.
[1] https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/09/30/1345259/epic-games-sues-google-and-samsung-over-app-store-restrictions
[2] https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/07/samsung-and-epic-games-call-a-truce-in-app-store-lawsuit/
[3] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/23/12/12/0133226/googles-app-store-ruled-an-illegal-monopoly-as-a-jury-sides-with-epic-games
> Epic Games, buoyed by the massive success of Fortnite, has spent the last few years throwing elbows in the mobile industry to get its app store on more phones. It scored an antitrust win against Google in late 2023, and the following year it [1]went after Samsung for deploying "Auto Blocker" on its Android phones, which would make it harder for users to install the Epic Games Store. Now, the parties have [2]settled the case just days before Samsung will unveil its latest phones .
>
> The Epic Store drama began several years ago when the company defied Google and Apple rules about accepting outside payments in the mega-popular Fortnite. Both stores pulled the app, and Epic sued. Apple emerged victorious, with Fortnite only returning to the iPhone recently. Google, however, [3]lost the case after Epic showed it worked behind the scenes to stymie the development of app stores like Epic's. Google is still working to avoid penalties in that long-running case, but Epic thought it smelled a conspiracy last year. It filed a similar lawsuit against Samsung, accusing it of implementing a feature to block third-party app stores. The issue comes down to the addition of a feature to Samsung phones called Auto Blocker, which is similar to Google's new Advanced Protection in Android 16. It protects against attacks over USB, disables link previews, and scans apps more often for malicious activity. Most importantly, it blocks app sideloading. Without sideloading, there's no way to install the Epic Games Store or any of the content inside it.
>
> Auto Blocker is enabled by default on Samsung phones, but users can opt out during setup. Epic claimed in its suit that the sudden inclusion of this feature was a sign that Google was working with Samsung to stand in the way of alternative app stores again. Epic has apparently gotten what it wanted from Samsung -- CEO Tim Sweeney has announced that Epic is dropping the case in light of a new settlement.
Sweeney said Samsung "will address Epic's concerns," without elaborating on the details. Samsung may stop making Auto Blocker the default or create a whitelist of apps, like the Epic Games Store, that can bypass Auto Blocker. Another possibility is that Epic and select third-party stores are granted special access while Auto Blocker remains on for others, balancing security and openness.
A "more interesting outcome," according to Ars, would be for Samsung to pre-install the Epic Games Store on its new phones.
[1] https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/09/30/1345259/epic-games-sues-google-and-samsung-over-app-store-restrictions
[2] https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/07/samsung-and-epic-games-call-a-truce-in-app-store-lawsuit/
[3] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/23/12/12/0133226/googles-app-store-ruled-an-illegal-monopoly-as-a-jury-sides-with-epic-games
Little Red Hen and the Epic Smartphone that is Not (Score:2)
by bartoku ( 922448 )
Epic needs to stop suing to piggy back free on the work of others. Apple, Google, and Samsung invest a lot into building great hardware, and their app stores are funding this advancement. I had a book growing up, "Little Red Hen", the other farm animals did not help the Little Red Hen plant, harvest, mill, or bake the bread, so they did not get to eat it. Epic is trying to bring some jam for the bread, and "Little Red Hen" says everyone else pays me 30% of their profits so I will sell their jam next to my b
Not that it matters... (Score:2)
I have personally only ever bought one game from the Epic Store. Which then later became available on Steam. Lesson learned. The intrusive ad bubbles by the system clock, the updates always forcing it to start with windows, etc... etc... It just does things I prefer my programs NOT to do. The anti-cheat stuff at the Kernel level is also distasteful, but even Steam games have stuff like that now. So, until they have a REALLY good reason to go there, I just can't see doing it. I keep the Epic store shut off s
Re: (Score:2)
The Epic games store app is pretty bad, yes. On the other hand, I haven't had any DRM problems running their games on Linux using Lutris... Maybe I'm not playing new enough games to have a problem?