Well nothing that I have tried works anymore, so I guess I'm "opted out" of any game that requires Game Center. Apple can go and *** it.
You don't have to actually lose all your data. A method that's worked for others is backing up your device to your computer, then doing a factory reset on the device, then restoring from the backup you just made on your computer. All your game saves and stuff should be intact, and if you choose to do an encrypted backup (which you should anyway) it'll actually remember all your passwords and stuff too so there's minimal re-setup involved when you're done. I haven't tried this yet myself but I'm close, it's just sort of a pain for all the soft-launched games I have as those won't backup and I will lose the data in those (unless they have cloud saves). Also I've heard this doesn't work with using an iCloud backup, only through a computer, so if you don't have a computer to sync your device to then you might be SOL.
I have tried the factory reset and restore from backup, and it didn't help. In fact, I had an iPhone 6 with the issue, bought a 6S and restored the backup there, and the issue moved along with the data. So I don't trust that as a fix now. It did get "better" after 9.1 as in working most of the time, but it gradually went to worse.
So I was able to finally do the following method (found in Apple's discussion forums) but I had to perform the step of logging out of game center *as fast as possible*, seems that there is some process going on once you power on that gets game center locked, but if you manage to log out of game center quick enough, then after enabling airplane mode again it works. close all running apps - go into airplane mode - power off the device - power on the device - go to settings -> game center and log out of the game center. For me this was not previously accessible. - disable airplane mode and enable wifi - log back into gamecenter from settings->game center
They haven't found a solution because nobody is looking into it at Apple. They don't give a sh*t about us that have this problem. I contacted Apple Customer Service months ago I spent hours of my free time to explain this problem every single person that works there. Finally I spoke the chief and he sent an email and informed me when he got reply. He said "They know about problem but they need time to fix it.". Fix my a*s! Actually I have games that can't open because of GC for 4 months now. I'm done, system programmers (and their chief of course) at Apple can fock themselves.
The question I would ask of Apple is how often it's reasonable to suggest such a 'fix' should be done. I have a new iPad Air 2. Never had any apps on it. Never restored from a back-up. No w, a few months in, GC on it rarely works. White screen of death, mostly. 6s (restored from 5s) is always dead. Air 1, oddly, is usually fine. (Incidentally, _my_ answer on how often is 'never', since deleting data is never an acceptable fix, and in blocking access to /Doc and /Lib in apps, Apple shuttered workarounds. But more than once? Whenever the bug just happens again? No. Just no.)
http://9to5mac.com/2016/03/03/apple-launches-official-company-twitter-account-for-tips-tricks-and-customer-support-queries/ Do I need to say more? They seem to be quite active on that account. What will happen if we ask them about this, all of us, daily...?
It worked for a few hours and than IT was back again. Just power off/on also works, but gives me less time. I'll try the complete device wipe and backup method this weekend. [edit] my laptop broke down exactly this weekend, so the iPad device wipe is postponed ...
I tweeted them about it as well...we'll see if they reply. I did try the airplane mode method but was not able to log out of gamecenter. I'll try doing it faster since that worked for someone that mentioned it. What a pain! It's my son's iPad. I put a soft launched game on his iPad (Clash Royale) but now that it's out in the US I want to put that version. Since he has never had gamecenter working I'm afraid trying a restore will lose his save file etc. Awful on Apple's part.
I stopped buying iOS games months ago because of Game Center going dead on me. I used to buy a lot of apps, but Apple just doesn't care, so I've given up on them. They've become a terrible company in my opinion, and no longer care about a reliable user experience anymore. It's really sad.
I'm the one that mentioned doing it as fast as possible, but starting to think it was just coincidence. It froze again after a couple of days working and now the airplane mode doesn't work, no matter how fast I do it.
Over 3 weeks now since doing the Backup to PC, Complete Nuke, Restore from PC, and GC is still humming along.
