I didn't plan on doing something like this but this has been on my mind for a while now and I just want to rant publicly about it. For those who don't know, Google added a new feature to the Google Play Store called "Third-Party app stores". It's currently only available in the US and it only exists because Google's being forced by the US to support third party app stores from within the Play Store itself. So far, the whole thing is an absolute shitshow. There's only one app store so far and it's really not worth using.
The app store in question is "Aptoide Games". It touts being an app store for gamers but, despite also stating that it's made by Aptoide, it barely has anything. If you've never used Aptoide before, it's an open source app store for android (and IOS in the EU) that's been around for well over a decade and has probably thousands of games available. It's also the bases for another open source app store called F-Droid.
Now, here's the problem and the reason I making this rant, I believe that Google is intentionally stifling Aptoide Games. Google states in the list of app stores that they enforce their policies on those app stores, meaning that they effectively have full control over every app store that will be listed there. If it wasn't for the fact that Google is also in the process of ruining sideloading, this wouldn't be a problem. Now, because Google is planning on ruining sideloading, this creates a terrible situation for those who don't want to be limited to just the Google Play Store.
All this means that Google wants to completely fuck over their entire user base and so they're just going to gaslight users in the US into believing that they have a choice when they don't. android devices used to be the best option for playing games away from home because of how flexible they were for the price. Now, unless a proper alternative/competitor pops up on the market, the future of mobile/portable gaming is completely fucked. All currently available alternatives are either over priced, suffering from even more problems than android, or both.
Take what you will from this rant. I don't expect everyone to agree with me but I still wanted to put my feelings about this topic somewhere and figured my website would be a good place.