Kongregate CEO Jim Greer on getting pulled from the Android Market
Kongregate CEO Jim Greer called Google's swift removal of his company's Kongregate Arcade app from the Android Marketplace “surprising.” Released on the morning of January 19, the app was pulled by that evening.
Context & Ripple Effects
Kongregate's day barely lasted: CEO Jim Greer's Kongregate Arcade app went live on the Android Marketplace on the morning of January 19 and was gone by that evening, with Greer telling Joystiq the speed of the removal was "surprising." The episode lands mid-week in what is already a bruising stretch for Google's gatekeeper image — the same day, a noted Google-watcher presented evidence that search results favor Google's own services like Gmail and Maps, claims Google denies by insisting results are never manually manipulated.
That denial sits awkwardly next to the company's other January moves: the decision announced January 15 to drop H.264 from Chrome was immediately criticized as a control play driven by not-invented-here syndrome. Against that backdrop, a same-day app takedown reads less like an isolated moderation event and more like another data point in a live argument over how much editorial hand Google actually has on its platforms.
First-order effects
- Kongregate loses its Android distribution channel hours after launch, turning a product release into a public complaint about opaque marketplace rules.
- Greer's "surprising" framing forces Google's app-review process into the open, since no published rule clearly explains a same-evening pull.
Second-order effects
- The takedown sharpens the conflict-of-interest critique running through the week's search-favoritism story: Google insists its rankings are algorithmic, yet its marketplace decisions look discretionary, giving critics of both a single talking point.
- Developers weighing Android distribution now have to price in takedown risk on top of approval risk, which favors publishers large enough to absorb a relaunch cycle — or to negotiate directly.
Third-order effects
- If marketplace enforcement stays discretionary, developer trust migrates toward whatever channel offers predictable rules, pressuring Google to formalize review criteria or cede ground to alternative distribution paths.
- App-store curation becomes a standing reputational and regulatory exposure for platform owners generally, not just for Google — every high-profile takedown becomes evidence in the broader gatekeeping debate.
The trend: Mobile platform owners are shifting from rule-based app approval toward discretionary curation, and each contested takedown turns store governance itself into a competitive and regulatory battleground.