Update: Epic appealed their most recent enforcement and submitted a new version of the app. However, the latest version still has not fixed the violation of our Payments Policy (i.e. it has not incorporated Play Billing) and they have shown no willingness to do so. As a result, we are sending them a notice this afternoon informing them we are rejecting their appeal. Our email also includes context about all past violations in order to dissuade them from making it public. We have reactive comms prepared if needed, but press largely have framed their reporting weeks ago as if we have already officially rejected the app, so this step is unlikely to result in a news cycle on its own.

Earlier in the thread, Hiroshi Lockheimer flagged: "BTW I know 'malicious behavior' is the technical term for it, but it sure helps make the headlines click-baity and also probably raises the blood pressure over at Epic. Can we try to soften the language in the future?"

Colin Smith responded: "Agree it's overly ominous sounding in this case and we avoid that phrase in our reactive statement. The comms to the developer details the specific policy violations and includes links to both the malicious behavior and payments policies."