Google suspends online gaming trial on Play Store citing lack of regulations

livemint.com:

Mint on condition of anonymity that while the company does intend to come up with a framework, discussions on the matter are currently ongoing, and as of now, there is no “specific timeline" to when might these apps be allowed to operate again.Since the introduction of Google’s pilot programme, fantasy and rummy apps by India’s largest online gaming firms by revenue—Sporta Technologies (Dream11), Gameskraft and Games24x7—were all listed on Play Store. At the time of publishing, apps that remained listed and live on the Store include Dream11, RummyCulture, RummyCircle and My11Circle, among others.Dream11 and Games24x7 declined to comment on the matter.Google’s decision to withdraw its pilot comes as the Centre’s proposed plan to establish self-regulatory bodies (SRBs) to certify permissible apps failed to materialize.

A senior government official told Mint in March that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity), which oversees the sector, was likely to take charge of regulating the sector itself. However, the same remains under discussion at the Centre—and no decision has yet been taken.Stakeholders of the online gaming industry expressed disappointment.

Roland Landers, chief executive of industry body All India Gaming Federation, called the move “arbitrary and anticompetitive", claiming the company’s dominant market share in India could hurt distribution of such apps.“Google extensively engaged with the industry over the past year, and even announced earlier this year that they would onboard all skill-based pay-to-play games. Given that the Google Play Store conservatively holds over 90% of the app distribution market, they exert tremendous control over the Indian mobile market and is a ‘must have’.