Samsung is accused of blocking Fortnite downloads

Epic Games has accused Samsung of making it too difficult to download its hugely popular video game Fortnite on certain mobile devices.

A legal complaint due to be filed Monday says users must go through “21 steps” before they can play the game on a new Samsung product, including viewing security warning screens and changing settings.

Epic claims this means 50% of people who try to install the game on these devices give up before completing the process.

Samsung said it would “vigorously dispute” the “baseless allegations.”

Epic says the process takes 12 steps instead of 21 on other Android phones and tablets.

The company blames the problem on a Samsung feature called Auto Blocker, which is enabled by default on the manufacturer's latest products.

The tool is intended to block “malicious activities” and prevent app installations from unauthorized sources.

Epic claims that the automatic blocker affects Fortnite downloads and that this violates competition laws.

Samsung has denied the allegations and said users can disable the automatic blocker if they wish.

“Contrary to Epic Game's claims, Samsung actively promotes market competition, expands consumer choice and conducts its business fairly,” it said.

“The features built into our devices are designed in line with Samsung’s core principles of security, privacy and user control, and we remain fully committed to protecting users’ personal information.”

Apps in the Samsung or Google stores can be downloaded with just a few clicks because the companies have already approved it.

But Fortnite has to be downloaded from Epic's own store – which results in Samsung's auto-blocker feature being activated with warnings about it.

Epic claims that both Google and Samsung know that Fortnite is a legitimate app and therefore should not display any warnings.

That's because it was previously available on Google Play – the official app store for Android phones – and Samsung has worked with it before, hosting Fortnite competitions and creating digital skins for the game's characters.

The BBC has contacted Google for comment.

The Fortnite developer has previously taken Google and Apple to court over disagreements over the way the tech companies operate their app stores.

The game returned to EU-registered iPhones in August after Apple was ordered to open its app marketplace, but it still cannot be played on iOS in the UK.

Epic boss Tim Sweeney said he was “very sad” to take further legal action.

“The fight against Samsung … is new and really shitty,” he said.

“I didn’t think we would end up in this place.”

He claimed Epic would have “made a lot more money” if it had decided not to pursue its previous legal actions, but said he wanted to “really level the playing field” for developers.

The game developer wants Samsung to introduce a process by which all legitimate third-party app developers can request to be added to Auto Blocker's whitelist, but has been unable to reach an agreement.

Fortnite was removed from the Apple and Google app stores in 2020 after Epic introduced its own in-app payment system.

And the developer won a lengthy court battle against Google over dominance in the App Store in December 2023. A jury ruled that Google exercised a monopoly.