Unable to publish with error: Can't rollout this release because it doesn't allow existing users to upgrade to the newly added app bundles

Question

When attempting to publish a new release in the Google Dev console, I am stuck at the error: "You can't rollout this release because it doesn't allow any existing users to upgrade to the newly added app bundles."

I believe the error is technically correct, because a previous version of the app targeted wearables (and only wearables). That release was a mistake on my part, as the app does not actually support wearables (but the manifest mistakenly stated otherwise). So, I had a working release for phones (call it version 8). Then I released version 9, targeting wearables (it would have been nice to have received the error at that time, but sadly I did not). Now version 10 correctly targets phones again, but I'm receiving the above error and cannot proceed.

Many posts suggested that the error might indicate my versionCode is less than some higher versionCode that was released previously. I ruled this out by increasing the versionCode to 8,000,000 (after trying several others).

I contacted Google support and they first suggested the versionCode "fix" I described above.

Second, they suggested this might also be due to some cache issues; "go to Publishing overview > Turn off Managed Publishing. Afterwards, I recommend that you clear your browser's cache and cookies using the instructions available in our help center. You may also want to try Incognito Mode on Google Chrome, or a different browser altogether." I tried all of this to no avail.

Third, the suggestion was to update the API to 33. That had already been done.

It's been two weeks since the issue was sent to the "internal team" with no replies since, even upon request.

Any ideas?