From the MacRumors article: “The app is available in the United States and other countries, but it is not available in the European Union where it is instead being offered through an alternative app marketplace.”
But that AltStore askes for a subscription fee of 2 bucks annually, without offering more than Delta and another in-house app at the moment. Seems to be because of some complicated rules by Apple. Oh the irony. EU rulings basically made it possible for such emulaters to come out officially, yet EU people don‘t get the choice between App Store and alternative marketplace, but are rather bound to only use that marketplace if they want a certain app. So, it‘s basically worse.
Forgot it also emulates the Nintendo DS tried that last night and wow it works. Two small screens which isn’t ideal but yeah it works. Impressive
First time trying an emulator; assumed they’d be too complicated. Pleasantly surprised how easy Delta is to use, aside from DS emulation which took a while to get running. Very slick piece of software, and with iPad the screens are plenty large enough even with DS. So many games available, probably won’t need to buy from appstore ever again. I’m thinking iOS developers may be less than impressed.
yeah thanks I’m not a fan of controllers but I’m gonna try one this time on my iPad. Loving this emulator
I know what you mean. Years back I jailbreaked my phone. Got rid of it in the end as I wasn’t playing the 100’s of iOS games I had bought but this emulators so good. Love the older systems and the arcade conversions. A bloody dream !
Yes, it's a little absurd... I have nothing against the idea of installing AltStore on my iPhone to test but for example for the moment, there is no way to cancel the annual subscription (no account)? So why did you launch AltStore in Europe with just Delta and Clip while offering the installation of Delta via the AppStore for the rest of the world?
Two really good video. Learnt how to add some great skins to the emulator Look forward to new updates in the future. Really want megadrive (genesis)
Maybe when you feel like playing modern releases. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Yeah, they'll stop developing iOS games and start playing Nintendo games on their iDevices instead. The AppStore is doomed (oh, no, what's gonna happen to TouchArcade?!). I think it's mostly long history companies that published retro games on the platforms Delta [or any emulator] supports that may be affected, especially if they're planning to port games from their old catalogues (e.g. Square Enix and CAPCOM's ports), because several people might end up not buying them from the AppStore ever again. New content, on the other hand, will still find an audience, or so I hope.
Then it would only be fair to charge everyone a small fee, even in the App Store, no? Without the EU ruling, the app woudn‘t exist at all officially. So, why should only EU peops pay now? Really sucks.
Yes, I expect the AppStore will survive, but seems like the start of what could be considerable disruption with this policy change. Most of the Delta games are new to me as I didn’t own all the consoles. Love the emphasis on gamplay due to the simple graphics, and there are some bizarre titles that need to be investigated! - so I’ll get back to ‘Juka and the Monophonic Menace’.
Emulation is a separate case, as its ruling was applied globally rather than towards a specific territory or in accordance to another ruling, so I suppose it would have ended up happening without the EU thing. But since, according to Riley's TL;DR notice, Apple charges developers for each install in EU due to the third party stores policy, it became unviable to publish it for free through AltStore which is his main focus, although I agree it'd have been appropriate leveling access to the app, either by making it free outside AltStore or paid in every store. Had the emulator ruling happened before third party store policy changes, it'd probably be free/paid everywhere. But then Nintendo would have a case against Delta for making money out of emulation, since it broadens the way for people to search and download games for free, even if the developer doesn't encourage users to do so.
Even though Delta is currently the #1 app in the US, I think we’re overestimating the amount of actual interest there is on playing emulated games on iOS, and the impact that it will have on other game publishers. There’s a ton of curiosity now, but a lot of that will die down as people realize that it actually takes work to do retro gaming, both sourcing and installing the games, and actually playing them — not to mention the questionable legality. Having emulators on Android has not killed games in the platform. And frankly, most people will play what friends or influencers are playing, and they will put the least amount of effort possible to download and install. This is the platform that popularized auto-play, after all. As someone who currently owns three handhelds for vintage/emulated games, I’m happy as a clam. But I know that I will also be buying and playing current-gen games as well. I think that’s true for most folks who are into the emulation scene.
Well, "fair" from their perspective would probably be more along the lines of not making it available anywhere outside the EU, and having the only way of accessing it via paid method through the AltStore in the EU. Nobody is entitled to a free emulator, these guys have been working on it for years. I think it was incredibly cool of them to release it outside of the AltStore at all. The way their Patreon worked is you'd get access to special features, like Genesis support and iPad support, for being a paid Patreon member. I could see similar happening with AltStore, where the fee gets you something extra compared to free users. All that said, it's €1.50 per year. That's like less than ̶a̶ ̶p̶e̶n̶n̶y̶ ̶a̶ ̶m̶o̶n̶t̶h̶ half a penny a day? Seems bananas to complain about.
