Summary
- Epic Games pulls Fortnite from Samsung Galaxy Store in protest, accusing Google of anti-competitive behavior.
- Epic offers alternative app distribution with competitive fees, expanding to new platforms like AltStore on iOS.
- Epic Games had challenged Apple and Google over app store practices, winning a legal battle against Google.
Despite facing significant challenges, Fortnite developer Epic Games has emerged as a serious critic of Apple and Google, accusing the tech giants of monopoly behavior and running anti-competitive practices in the app stores. In fact, Epic Games’ resilience was evident when it initiated a legal battle against Google and Apple, prompting Google to offer a substantial settlement.
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Despite the recent announcement that Fortnite will return to iOS in the European Union, Epic Games’ fight against app stores is far from over. The next target in its sights is the Samsung Galaxy Store.
As we reported earlier, Samsung has added an Auto Blocker feature to One UI 6.1.1, which disables third-party app installations by default. This feature is significant as it restricts users from sideloading apps to their Samsung device, allowing only app installations from the Google Play Store and Galaxy Store.
Fortnite and other Epic products will leave the Galaxy Store
In light of this, Epic Games announced it would pull Fortnite and its other games from the Galaxy Store to protest Samsung’s recent change to Galaxy devices. This decision has significant implications for the gaming community, as it means that Fortnite will no longer be easily accessible to Samsung users through the Galaxy Store.
Moreover, Epic Games even accused Google of offering a collusion proposal to Samsung to restrain competition in the market for Android app distribution. The video game maker claims the proposal was revealed during their trial against Google.
With the return of Fortnite to iOS in the EU and the Epic Games Store’s expansion to Android worldwide and iOS in the European Union, Epic is paving the way for a new era of app distribution.
Epic Games Store charges 12% for payments processed by the company and 0% for third-party payments. Additionally, Epic said its mobile games will come to AltStore on iOS in the EU, with support for two other third-party stores to be announced soon. Epic Games Store’s competitive fees and support for third-party stores offer a promising alternative to the current app store landscape.
It remains to be seen if Epic and Samsung could reach a settlement to return Fortnite to the Galaxy Store. Given that users can disable the Auto Blocker feature in the settings, Epic and Samsung’s contention doesn’t seem as severe as Epic’s battle against Google and Apple.
