> Yet their demands are almost entirely about limiting restrictions imposed by Google Play.

Because most people only ever use the Google Play store. Epic can invest all the effort they want into their own store, but that won't help if the audience is elsewhere. You are basically making the "just build your own Twitter/Facebook" argument - it's about the audience, not the technology.

> it's about the audience, not the technology.

My take is that the biggest feature of the Play store and Steam is their collection and moderation of user reviews at scale - it is this that Epic are unable or unwilling to take on.