Fortnite studio Epic is suing Google and Samsung over a mechanism built into the latter's mobile devices constitutes what it calls "anti-competitive and unfair conduct".
Per GamesIndustry.biz (which cites Epic's legal filing with the Northern District of California), Epic wants the courts to prevent Samsung enabling by default a feature called Auto Blocker on its phones and tablets.
In essence, this feature automatically prevents the installation of any app that isn't from the Google Play Store or Samsung's own App Store on Samsung mobile devices, and given Epic's fury regarding Apple and Google's so-called mobile duopoly, you can probably guess how the company feels about that feature.
According to GI.biz, Samsung originally introduced the Auto Blocker feature to its devices in October last year, but the company began switching on the feature as default in July this year.
Epic says that in order to bypass Auto Blocker and download its mobile store on Android devices, Samsung users must embark on "an exceptionally onerous 21-step process", since the Auto Blocker describes Epic's mobile store as coming from an "unknown" source.
The gaming giant's argument is that Samsung's description of its apps as coming from "unknown" places harms its...
