Google ‘intentionally removed Kongregate app’

Google had intentionally removed Kongregate’s app from the Android Market, an executive familiar with the matter has said.

Kongregate CEO Jim Greer told JoyStiq that Google removed the app – hours after its well-publicised release – because it broke submission rules.

"The reason for the removal," Greer claimed, "and we didn’t find out until after it was already gone, was that [Google] claimed you can’t use its app store to distribute another app store, which is a reasonable restriction. But to us, what’s really bizarre, to call [Kongregate Arcade] an ‘app store’ seems like a pretty extreme stretch."

Kongregate Arcade is billed as a brand new app that offers hundreds of games for free.

The application is a portal to around 300 games built in Adobe Flash – something which many expected Google would be pleased with, as it gives Android an edge over the Flash-banning Apple.

However, it appears that Google is setting a precedent by not allowing other firms to distribute external game catalogues on the Android Market. Allowing them could, in theory, have a negative effect on its own product range.

Yet Greer said he and the Kongregate management was nonetheless “very surprised” by the ban.

“Especially since we had shown it to several people at Google in mobile," he claimed.

There is no vetting process for Android Apps, meaning all are published but can be removed when reviewed.

Due to the open-source nature of the Android, the app is still available from Kongregate’s own website, and through any other means of distribution.