Comment on Apple changes App Store rules to allow retro game emulators globally | TechCrunch

bdonvr@thelemmy.club ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

• DarthYoshiBoy@kbin.social ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Dolphin requires JIT compilation and that is still verboten under these new guidelines.

  Further, the rule change says that these apps are allowed to "Download" ROMs, it doesn't say that they can just play anything they want, it in fact says that they have to provide an index of everything their software might run and where it is downloaded from. The rules are not going to allow emulators as we know and love them. It says specifically that the software offered under the guidelines must be offered via In App Purchases, so in all,

  A) Emulators can exist

  B) They can download ROMs

  C) You have to comply with all applicable laws while you offer an emulator that allows people to download ROMs ಠ_ಠ

  D) "Software offered in apps under this rule must: use in-app purchase in order to offer digital goods or services to end users."

  Which in whole means that they've allowed (for example) Sega to offer an Emulator app that will run ROMs of games that Sega owns, but they have to sell the ROMs to you individually via IAPs.

  Feel free to read their guidelines at https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/#third-party-software, because there isn't any way in my reading to interpret those rules as allowing something like Higan to exist on the app store, the new rules are such a narrow carve out that it's hard to imagine that anyone is able to provide an emulator for iOS any time soon. They've opened a door that basically nobody could walk through and the people who could walk through it wouldn't need to because they could just distribute the ROMs with the emulator to begin with, it's business as usual for Apple.

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  • shinratdr@lemmy.ca ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    That’s not how I interpret that. I think they’re just saying that if your app does offer digital goods, you have to use IAP. Not that any app in this category has to include IAP to be accepted.

    Apple is protecting its bottom line here. In other words if Nintendo was to release a classic arcade, they don’t just get to circumvent IAP rules in non-DMA countries because of this change. But I don’t see any wording that says apps cannot forgo offering any IAPs and just allow you to add content via Files like all other apps do.

    If they intended your definition, they wouldn’t leave it vague. There would be a specific provision that says “Apps cannot access files or software from the system, or offer an in-app browser or other online resource to add files to the app.”

    Moreover, this change is specifically targeted at Riley Testut and AltStore, which was founded so he could distribute his emulator, Delta. Your interpretation would fully prevent that app from being offered, so I really don’t think that is what Apple was intending.

    Lack of JIT is crippling though, hopefully that will change soon.

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    • DarthYoshiBoy@kbin.social ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Agree to disagree.

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      • shinratdr@lemmy.ca ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Two emulators have launched and they both can open arbitrary ROM files as expected.

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      • shinratdr@lemmy.ca ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        I think that’s fair, I basically agree with the first comment on that Ars article:

        App Review guidelines are always so vague and open to interpretation. We need a brave developer to submit a retro console emulator that can load arbitrary files to App Review and see what happens.

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