Is Google Play destroying the competition?
Google Play, the number one store for Android apps, is a monopoly, and not being able to enter or be removed from the store can have huge consequences for developers. We cannot see the store competition that we see on the desktop side, on the mobile side. So why hasn’t there been a serious competitor so far?
Of course, the first answer to this question is that the Android operating system is in the hands of Google. As such, he can manipulate the ecosystem as he wishes. On the other hand, a well-established ad network and revenue sharing are also a big factor in this.
In fact, there are solid competitors to face Google. Many names such as Ubisoft, Steam, Activision, Nintendo have store experience and they can reflect this on the mobile side. However, Google has sacrificed billions of dollars to prevent this.
According to the statements in the ongoing lawsuit between Epic Games and Google, the company makes agreements with companies not to establish an application store. For example, an investment of 360 million dollars has been made in Activision in 3 years. A one-year payment of $30 million was made to Tencent. Ubisoft, Nintendo, Age of Learning are among the companies that Google gives money. Probably, the amount of money paid to companies varies according to the competition.
Google, on the other hand, completely denies these claims and claims to offer various support to developers under a program called Project Hug (hug!). Thus, it prevents the emergence of an important competition in the Android world.