Epic Games drops app store-related antitrust lawsuit against Samsung

Seoul, July 8 (IANS) The head of US gaming giant Epic Games said on Tuesday the company has dropped an antitrust lawsuit against Samsung Electronics Co. involving the blocking of software originating from sources outside of app stores of Google and Samsung on the South Korean tech company's mobile devices.

"We're dismissing our court case against Samsung following the parties' discussions. We are grateful that Samsung will address Epic's concerns," Tim Sweeney, chief executive officer (CEO) and founder of Epic Games, said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Epic Games, best known for popular online shooter Fortnite, had filed the lawsuit last year in the U.S. over a feature on Samsung devices that automatically blocks the installation of apps from sources outside the Google Play Store and Samsung's own Galaxy Store, reports Yonhap news agency.

Epic had argued that this mechanism constituted an unfair barrier to competition. Epic users had to download the company's apps from its official website after manually disabling the feature.

With the case against Samsung now dropped, Epic is expected to continue its legal dispute against Google alone. The two U.S. tech giants have been engaged in a broader legal fight over app store policies and market dominance.

Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics said on Tuesday it has acquired U.S.-based digital health technology company Xealth in a bid to expand its health care information technology (IT) ecosystem.

The acquisition agreement was signed on the previous day, and the acquisition process is expected to be completed by the end of this year, according to Samsung Electronics.

Xealth, a digital health care startup spun off from Providence Health System in 2026, provides a platform that integrates a wide range of digital health tools and care programs for health care providers.

It currently has a network of more than 500 U.S. hospitals, including Advocate Health and Banner Health, and more than 70 digital health solution partners.

--IANS

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