Apple surprised everyone earlier this month with a change to the App Store guidelines that now allows retro game console emulator apps for its platforms, including iOS and tvOS. Following the success of Delta, the developers behind Provenance have now confirmed that they will soon release it on the App Store, bringing PlayStation emulation to iPhone and iPad users.
Provenance to bring PlayStation game emulation to iOS users
For those unfamiliar, Provenance is a game emulator already available through AltStore and other sideloading methods. Similar to Riley Testut’s Delta, which is now available on the App Store, Provenance can also emulate most of Nintendo’s classic consoles, such as the NES, SNES, Game Boy, Nintendo 64, and DS. However, it also works with Atari, Sega, and PlayStation games.
The news was confirmed by Provenance project leader Joseph Mattiello to iMore. Of course, although Apple now allows game emulators, the App Store has a lot of other rules, so Mattiello said that the team needs to “investigate” all the guidelines before submitting the emulator for App Store review.
Even so, this is great news for game emulation fans who will for the first time have the opportunity to run PlayStation games on iOS without relying on sideloading. Mattiello also revealed that Provenance will support SEGA Dreamcast and Sony PlayStation 2 games in the future.
More about game emulators on the App Store
The App Store guidelines have always prohibited developers from releasing emulation software for Apple platforms. However, with the DMA antitrust legislation and the arrival of App Marketplaces in the EU, Apple has reconsidered and now allows such software on the App Store worldwide – although only “retro game console” emulation is allowed.
There’s a whole debate about whether emulation is legal or not, since it usually requires downloading pirated copies of games (known as ROMs). However, Apple makes it clear in the App Store guidelines that developers are “responsible for all such software offered in your app, including ensuring that such software complies with these Guidelines and all applicable laws.”
Apart from allowing game emulators, Apple had already changed its guidelines a few months ago to allow game streaming services on the App Store.
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