This is a good point. A project within Google that doesn’t move the needle next to it’s search advertising business should not be _driven_ by profit margin. However there are a few reasons why I think this happened within Google Play:

1. Lots of pressure for google products and services to become standalone businesses

2. Too much imbalance of power between business teams and engineering teams within Google Play. The business teams just saw it as copycat App Store and the engineers and product leads didn’t have the influence to overturn this. In some ways this is against what the broader Google culture was thought to have. (Eng/prod > bd).

3. Androids existence as a defense and not as an opportunity to create the future. Android has always been this and it’s engrained culturally.

There are ways to lie with statistics, but the Play Store is a huge cash cow. I play a mobile game where thousands of players at least have spent more than a car in in-app purchase transactions. Someone told me if you're spending less than $1,000 they consider you free to play. One of the key items for high level play you can only unlock after spending $12,000 on an account.

Imagine if Ford could make 30% profit on selling cars, and didn't even have to manufacture the car.

Fortnite alone is worth hundreds of millions to Google. There's a reason they're willing to compromise any supposed principles they had over it.

Then there are additional effects, like how their control over the Play Store impacts their advertising opportunities on Android.