[Sylos]

That's optimistic...

Google exerts a lot of power over Android.

The EU did recently punish Google for that, so theoretically Google now has to stop with it, but up until this point, they forced manufacturers to only ever preinstall the Google version of Android (or permanently lose their license to preinstall the Google Apps) and also forced manufacturers to always install the whole Google app bundle, not just the Play Store.

To put their power into perspective, just remember that Amazon has been in the game of distributing an Android fork and alternative app store for a while now. And Amazon is magnitudes bigger than Valve.

[moetech]

It's not optimistic, just simplified. Surely you agree that Valve could escape Google's claws on Android much more easily than they can escape Microsoft claws on Windows? Heck, they could even partner with Amazon!

[Sylos]

I do think so, yes, but I also think that they still could not actually escape. That they'd go bankrupt within a year, or at least that they'd have to shrink their operation to only cover the Chinese market, which doesn't have access to the Play Store, but also isn't terribly excited for yet another US company trying to enter their market.