Apple has been on an absolute bender lately when it comes to bad, dumb, and/or just generally confusing decisions. Whether we’re talking continuing to release “Pro" laptops with none of the features actual professionals are asking for, killing the App Store affiliate program, or other recent drama, Apple fans have been shaking their heads and saying, “Wait, what?" an awful lot this year. That train doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon, with the latest notice iOS developers found in their inboxes this morning. Basically, if you’re an indie developer and have anything that “simulates gambling," your game is being removed from the App Store in an effect to “reduce fraudulent activity."
This is hitting some of the oldest games on the App Store, as if you roll the clocks back to the launch of the App Store ten years ago (and the jailbreak equivalents before then) an awful lot of the games were super simple card and dice games which more or less emulated those pocket blackjack or pocket poker handheld games that it seemed like every grandma in the 90’s owned.
Wow Apple pulled my almost exactly 11 year old Blackjack 21 game from the AppStore due to it simulating gambling AND me being an individual developer.
Not sure if I want to incorporate at this point to put it back in there as I never had time to update it fully for iOS 11+. pic.twitter.com/POXloALY09
— Patrick McCarron (@McCarron) August 9, 2018
These sort of simple ultra lightweight casino games have been incredibly popular amongst ultra casual smartphone users, as they occupy the same mental space as a good Solitaire game. (I’m still playing Solitaite City ($4.99) a decade later.) People also really love slot machine games, which undoubtedly will also be hit by this new decree. Per Apple, “Going forward only verified accounts from incorporated business entities may submit gambling apps for distribution on the App Store." Incorporating isn’t exactly a difficult stepping stone, but it seems like a really odd requirement to release a game type that is both common and innocuous- Particularly with Apple originally positioning the App Store as this totally even and accessible, level playing field where indie developers working in their spare time out of their bedrooms and giant corporate publishers are both treated the same.
Are there scammy gambling games on the App Store? Definitely, every day we trawl through the App Store release lists they’re jam packed with reskinned slot machine games and other similar junk, but keeping that garbage off the App Store lies in Apple’s approval process- Not some new arbitrary requirement that indie developers spend a half hour on Legal Zoom and a few hundred bucks in filing fees. (The approval process is a large part of why Apple takes 30 cents out of every dollar made on the App Store, after all.) All the actual scammers will have no problem filing their incorporation papers, meanwhile, indie developers who have had these ancient games on the App Store for years were just given one more reason to not bother with another hurdle being thrown at them to remain on the platform.
hopefully now it stop all the reskin slot machine games. Good move on apple part.
Why wouldn't the people releasing those just spend 30 minutes incorporating?
I'm not sure of the process in the us but in canada, it is a bit more effort. There are fees around $200 and you have to file an annual corporate tax return and have to get a duns number which involves another organization doing a check on you. Not a huge hurdle but probably enough to deter most casual dev's.
Well right but presumably the people who are spamming the App Store with dozens of slot machine reskins a day are making more than $200 annually, which would make it worth the hassle?
True, if they're making money ... they'll do it.
It seems like many of the titles removed in error have already been reinstated, according to a BBC News story. Others may take longer to sort out, I would imagine, but mistakes (and even whole polices) can still be reversed, as so often happens. I can imagine it’s hard to change a policy for such a large number of apps and not make some mistakes. Which doesn’t at all make it less stressful for affected developers, or “good enough,” or any less worth reporting—but looking back at so many Apple scandals, they often do blow over and turn out to be less dire than the earliest headlines would suggest. But we always remember the initial fury more than the nuanced story they eventually trickled out.
Slow news day?
unless you are a big name one like big fish casino
I hope this covers the iap gambling mechanics in games as well. Including loot boxes and / or summon mechanics we see in many RPG lite games. I don’t blame apple for doing this and I think it’s a good move that I hope stimulates developers to take a new approach.
My puzzle game Selfie Poker was also removed from the app store and yesterday I recieved a copy-paste response to my appeal which says that "the original removal feedback is valid". Thats a sad news for me since with Selfie Poker I really tried to stay away from gambling theme and wanted to show that poker is much more than a way to gamble. The app was featured by Apple themselves in many countries and in one of the counntries it was featured just a week before the removal, which seems inconsistent.
Since the app is free and without any ads it doesn't make sense to spend additional effort on incorporating. I wonder where else should I try to appeal to get it back to the store. I can see at least one puzzle game with word poker in it's title from individual developer up in the app store, so there are exceptions.