20 people is just a start. I expect it to ramp up and effectively lock out indie developers. This alone would've prevented stuff like Flappy Bird from ever being published.
The app has a very limited audience. In the first month, I've had approximately 28 purchases. If I had to find 20 people to use the app for a couple weeks before I could publish, it wouldn't have been published.
[0] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=me.johnmaguire...
It didn't do well, but I still sell copies every month, and getting an app on a store considerably improved job prospects after a somewhat drastic change in career direction.
This sucks.
There's plenty of reasons for apps like Flappy Bird to be on the store.
What if I need to program in Java, not JavaScript (because it is a requirement of the project)? What if I need it to not be PWA (because some of the libraries are native-only)? What if I need to add in-app purchases (because it is our business model)?
Does changing "want to" "need to" make a difference? It shouldn't.