Earlier this month, Apple revised its App Store Guidelines to permit game emulator apps for the first time. On Saturday, one of the first such apps was approved: iGBA. This app allowed users to import and play ROMs download from the internet. On Sunday, however, the app was pulled from the App Store without full explanation.
Apple has now provided more clarity on why iGBA was removed from the App Store after initially being approved.
As we explained this morning, Apple said that it removed iGBA from the App Store for violating two App Store Guidelines: copyright section 5.2 and spam section 4.3.
iGBA for iPhone and iPad was essentially just an ad-ridden clone of Riley Testut’s open-source project GBA4iOS. This led to questions about whether iGBA was removed because of the “copyright” infringement on GBA4iOS or because of the possible piracy implications linked to ROM emulators as a category.
Apple now tells me that iGBA’s functionality was originally approved in compliance with the App Store guidelines. The app was then removed, however, when Apple learned that it was a clone of GBA4iOS – a violation of the copyright and spam App Store Guidelines.
That is: iGBA wasn’t removed because of its support for importing ROMs downloaded from the web. Instead, it was removed for being a rip-off of GBA4iOS.
9to5Mac’s Take
This is great news for the future of game emulating apps on iPhone and iPad. It means that Apple will permit game emulators of all kinds, including those that allow users to import ROMs downloaded from the web. There are piracy and copyright concerns around this practice in general, but Apple is taking a hands-off approach.
Instead, Apple says that developers are responsible for ensuring that their game emulating apps abide by “all applicable laws.”
So even though iGBA has (rightfully) been removed for infringing on Testut’s project, the future of game emulating apps seems brighter than ever for iPhone and iPad users.
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