It's a bit dramatic. Most large companies still eat the 30% and launch on Google Play Store anyways, even with alternative app stores or just shipping .apk fil

It's a bit dramatic. Most large companies still eat the 30% and launch on Google Play Store anyways, even with alternative app stores or just shipping .apk files. I don't know why, but my guess is updates. They've probably done some user research and decided it's easier to deliver updates that install in the background. Since the .apk update method is just reinstalling the app, it's very annoying if you ship freqeuent updates.