By Mike Scarcella and Supantha Mukherjee
(Reuters) - "Fortnite" video game maker Epic Games on Monday accused Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)'s Google and Samsung (KS:005930), the world's largest Android phone manufacturer, of conspiring to protect Google's Play store from competition.
Epic filed a lawsuit in U.S. federal court in California alleging that a Samsung mobile security feature called Auto Blocker was intended to deter users from downloading apps from sources other than the Play store or Samsung's Galaxy store, which the Korean company chose to put on the back burner.
Samsung and Google are violating U.S. antitrust law by reducing consumer choice and preventing competition that would make apps less expensive, said U.S.-based Epic, which is backed by China's Tencent.
"It's about unfair competition by misleading users into thinking competitors' products are inferior to the company's products themselves," Epic Chief Executive Tim Sweeney told reporters.
"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."
Google in a statement called Epic's lawsuit "meritless" and said Android device makers "are free to take their own steps to keep their users safe and secure".
Samsung said it planned to "vigorously contest Epic Games' baseless claims."
"The features integrated into its devices are designed in accordance with Samsung's core principles of security, privacy, and user control, and we remain fully committed to safeguarding users' personal data," Samsung said in the statement, adding that users have choices to disable Auto Blocker at any time.
Epic said Samsung's Auto Blocker was designed to blunt the impact of a U.S. verdict that Epic won against Google in December 2023 that is expected to force the company to make apps easier to obtain from other sources.
Epic said it will also raise its competition concerns with regulators in the European Union, which has long scrutinized Google's business practices.
Epic had earlier faced off with Google and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) over their rules of charging up to 30% commissions on app store payments. After getting banned for nearly four years, Epic's Fortnite was available again on iPhones in the European Union and worldwide on Google's Android devices last month.
Samsung introduced Auto Blocker on its smartphones in late 2023 as an opt-in feature to protect users from downloading apps that may contain malware. Epic said Samsung made Auto Blocker the default setting in July and intentionally made it difficult to disable or bypass.
Cary, North Carolina-based Epic Games sued Google in 2020, claiming it stifled competition through its controls over app distribution and payments.