I'm talking specifically about IAPs. Like if there was a free game with a full game unlock IAP or content locked behind IAPs.
My understanding is that you won't be able to "restore (IAP) purchases" within a game that has been pulled.
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iOS Gaming October 2015 | Just when you thought your TV was safe from mobile games
- Thread starter More_Badass
- Start date
I'm talking specifically about IAPs. Like if there was a free game with a full game unlock IAP or content locked behind IAPs.
My understanding is that you won't be able to "restore (IAP) purchases" within a game that has been pulled.
infiniteloop
Member
PittaGAF
Member
I'm curious....anyone have experience of what happens if a dev on Steam pulls his games?
Are the games still downloadable from the history purchase or not?
Apple is the last one in the gaming scene so I would guess they look around to competitors before changing something (or this is just wishing...).
Are the games still downloadable from the history purchase or not?
Apple is the last one in the gaming scene so I would guess they look around to competitors before changing something (or this is just wishing...).
More_Badass
Member
I believe you still keep the game and can even get a key from elsewhere to add the game to your library. For example, I finally got to play Prey last year
I don't know but with mobile, consoles and PC gaming all pushing digital (well, no other option on mobile), it's really left a sour taste in my mouth. Consoles, in particular, have limited space -- even if you are able to add external storage.
The focus on digital has been convenience. This is far from convenient. I have thousands of apps. And, yes, I should have been backing up all along. But now it would next to impossible. I'm going to go through iTunes tonight and see if I can do some direct downloads of games I really care about.
That's not to mention that very early games that I DID have backed up are gone because my hard drive on my old PC died. Isn't this the future supposed to be the "cloud"? Apple's own cloud backups probably don't work either since they, to my knowledge, backup only the data and the game itself is restored from the App Store. Yet they give you the option of buying more Cloud storage.
One thing that really irks me is that since this apparently an Apple policy change why did they not announce it to the public? We still wouldn't be happy about it but it would have been consumer friendly to at least let us know so we could be proactive.
Sony recently ceased it's mobile game storefront and you know what? They let people know on their blog months in advance for people who wanted to purchase anything AND are leaving their server up for like a year afterwards for people who made purchases to be able to redownload things.
The way this was handled was just asinine and in the case of games with IAPs there is no recourse at all.
chris121580
Member
Congrats man! Really looking forward to double dipping and being able to play it on the go
Yeah but the problem is with pulled apps...
PittaGAF
Member
The first thing that came up in my mind is that actually...they even didn't think it would be an issue.
They are incredibile precise with many things....but about gaming...there is so much they have to learn...so I think maybe they really didn't see the implications.
This has been exacerbated by the fact that all of a sudden many famous franchise games has been pulled (the timing of the new policy with iOS9 just out wasn't the best one).
If those games weren't pulled...I wonder how long it would have taken to discover this.
Personally this really doesn't touch me...I've VERY RARELY re-downloaded something from my app history.
But it obviously sucks for everyone else and could harm the Appstore in the immediate future (people would be more cautious in what they download).
It will also stop people downloading everything even if they won't ever play it, especially during sales and free periods.
The only good thing in this new policy I can see....some people will actually try to play all the games they downloaded
They are incredibile precise with many things....but about gaming...there is so much they have to learn...so I think maybe they really didn't see the implications.
This has been exacerbated by the fact that all of a sudden many famous franchise games has been pulled (the timing of the new policy with iOS9 just out wasn't the best one).
If those games weren't pulled...I wonder how long it would have taken to discover this.
Personally this really doesn't touch me...I've VERY RARELY re-downloaded something from my app history.
But it obviously sucks for everyone else and could harm the Appstore in the immediate future (people would be more cautious in what they download).
It will also stop people downloading everything even if they won't ever play it, especially during sales and free periods.
The only good thing in this new policy I can see....some people will actually try to play all the games they downloaded
PittaGAF
Member
Eli Hodapp just published a really nice article about the situation, calling out directly Apple, on Toucharcade front page.
http://toucharcade.com/2015/10/07/apple-confirms-purchase-history-removal-is-intentional/
I really hope Apple reads it...because it really nails everything down (from SSD capacity to backups and the wonders of iCloud saves etc...).
http://toucharcade.com/2015/10/07/apple-confirms-purchase-history-removal-is-intentional/
I really hope Apple reads it...because it really nails everything down (from SSD capacity to backups and the wonders of iCloud saves etc...).
infiniteloop
Member
" they were simply pulling them from sale while they work on updates."
lol, ok. and this is Apple's fault?
Maybe if devs worked on making their apps compatible in June instead of waiting until people complained in September, this wouldn't be an issue.
lol, ok. and this is Apple's fault?
Maybe if devs worked on making their apps compatible in June instead of waiting until people complained in September, this wouldn't be an issue.
But I don't think all of the games pulled had iOS 9 issues. I think EA and Sega in particular just were cleaning house of old apps.
Whether or not it's the devs fault or not, I still think Apple has to make some sort of effort to sort the mess out.
Lol.. You made me almost snort up my morning coffee. ;-P
EA's recent house cleaning was due to incompatibility.
Regarding restoring IAPs in pulled apps, there are ways via jailbreaking that can do this, but obviously a proper official way to do this that isn't dependent on a developer keeping an auth listing on a server running in perpetuity would be ideal. Some fundamental changes would need to be made to how IAP unlocks in apps work though, the IAP would need to be actually modified on the client that could later be backed up locally by a user rather than pinging a server every time upon a re-install.
That may have been their "reason" but I've read where at least some of their delisted games do still work. And looking at their website, they give iOS 7.1.2 as their "maximum" iOS supported. And I know for a fact that I played some of those games on iOS 8 for sure.
They're basically saying that those games have not been updated since iOS 7.1.2 and indeed say the games would be available through your download history, which clearly is now not the case. All they say is they "may" not be compatible with higher iOS versions. The implication was that we could go ahead and try it for ourselves but they wouldn't guarantee that they work. In reality, we have no idea if EA actually tested each game on iOS 9 and at least from hearsay, some still do work.
More_Badass
Member
On a lighter note, some of tonight's releases are appearing now (NZ store)
Chesh - https://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/chesh/id989385585
Super Sharp - https://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/super-sharp/id1033873301
Leave Me Alone - https://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/leave-me-alone/id1037075359
Chesh - https://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/chesh/id989385585
Super Sharp - https://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/super-sharp/id1033873301
Leave Me Alone - https://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/leave-me-alone/id1037075359
infiniteloop
Member
"Update: We just confirmed with Apple that there has been no change in policy with regards to purchase histories"
https://toucharcade.com/2015/10/07/apple-confirms-purchase-history-removal-is-intentional/
"I'd like to extend my deepest apologies both to our readers and to Apple for jumping this gun and posting this story without confirming everything personally, which isn't a mistake I'm going to make again anytime soon."
https://toucharcade.com/2015/10/07/apple-confirms-purchase-history-removal-is-intentional/
"I'd like to extend my deepest apologies both to our readers and to Apple for jumping this gun and posting this story without confirming everything personally, which isn't a mistake I'm going to make again anytime soon."
Well then WTF? Since an indie dev found that if he re-listed a game in some country it would show up in download history, this makes no sense. Is it a bug? Something concrete from Apple explaining the whole issue would be nice.
Hell, EA's support page STILL says apps should be available in iCloud.
Since I was able to download Project 83113 just a week or so again (which was pulled) something changed, whether it's a bug or otherwise.
I'd say not everything has to do with the iOS version with regards to why apps get removed here. E.g. some could have to do with legacy versions of systems in use in the games. In EA's case maybe the version of Origin included in the old games was completely incompatible with what the modern pipeline looks like these days. Re-compiling/updating unstable apps from 32-bit to 64-bit which saw less than 10 downloads a month or whatever and keeping their live services operating doesn't sound like a sustainable option. I've tested a couple of EA's old games on iOS 9 like Mirror's Edge and Skate and they crash shortly after boot.
Frostt
Member
Leave Me Alone looks original and for a cheap price, will get that. I hope Dust makes it tonight as well.
PittaGAF
Member
I beta tested it and it is a fun and quirky side scrolling brawler. Just wasn't for me....especially given that it takes over a gigabyte in space.
Wow, so either TA or PG are full of crap, or Apple doesn't have their story straight. What a mess.
No matter what the outcome of Apple changing or not changing a policy regarding purchase history, this whole issue continues to point out that Apple has no clue how to manage a gaming platform (or maybe they just don't care). This whole process of games breaking every year with a new version of iOS and apps getting pulled and resubmitted is a mess.
At the end of the day, this whole situation does nothing more than prove right all the people who hate mobile. In addition, it makes having a sucessful premium game that much harder (which is already a nearly impossible feat at this point). If anything, it just helps freemium become that much more dominant, because at least with a f2p game, if it's pulled, then most users haven't spent a dime.
It's a sad time for anybody like me who has really tried to give mobile a chance over the past 6 years.
Saucycarpdog
Member
I'm waiting on impressions of super sharp to see if the puzzles are fun or become dull after a while. Looks fun though.
Also, maybe it was you who posted it but an upcoming iOS game was posted some months back that I can't remember the name of. It had a white wolf as the main character and it was set in some type of forest, the camera was a top down in a way similar to Don't Starve.
To be fair they did credit Pocket Gamer at the end of the article originally. Of course, it's not mentioned before then.
Ok, missed that little "via Pocket Gamer" at the end.
More_Badass
Member
You can't go wrong with a 1Button puzzler. They are my go-to devs for great minimalist puzzle games. I'll post some detailed Super Sharp impressions later
That other game doesn't ring a bell
Frostt
Member
A gig? I will hold it since Dust may come tonight as well and need to finish The Executive...
More_Badass
Member
It's coming tonight. I'm playing it now
PittaGAF
Member
Frostt
Member
Great to hear! I read about it earlier, you sold me on Dust. Now I need it.
Edit: How much space it takes?
More_Badass
Member
737mb
Frostt
Member
Thanks. 16Gb is painful, so I have to choose between the two... Dust seems like a labor of love and is the product of one developer. That gets my money.
To give a developers view on games disappearing from bought/download lists
- it's possible Apple has changed policy without saying or confirming anything
- it's possible there is a technical issue with iTunes Connect or the App Store which is putting apps effectively into a "Deleted" state
- it's possible the developers and publishers are accidentally "Deleting" apps when they should merely be "Removing from sale" (the latter takes it off the Store but keeps it available for redownload)
- it's possible that developers and publishers are purposely "Deleting" apps to avoid refunds / customer support / server charges etc and feigning ignorance
- it's possible there is some combination of the above going on
Hard to pin down from the examples.
Not sure I'd go that far. It might provide a valid concern or complaint, but there are comparable problems for other platforms like region locking, limited physical production runs, pricing inequality, and the same inability to download after some time or event if you want to point the finger back.
People who hate mobile are always going to find something. As are people who hate Nintendo, console, PC, handheld, motion games, VR, whatever. Very few of them are "right".
- it's possible Apple has changed policy without saying or confirming anything
- it's possible there is a technical issue with iTunes Connect or the App Store which is putting apps effectively into a "Deleted" state
- it's possible the developers and publishers are accidentally "Deleting" apps when they should merely be "Removing from sale" (the latter takes it off the Store but keeps it available for redownload)
- it's possible that developers and publishers are purposely "Deleting" apps to avoid refunds / customer support / server charges etc and feigning ignorance
- it's possible there is some combination of the above going on
Hard to pin down from the examples.
mid83 said:
Not sure I'd go that far. It might provide a valid concern or complaint, but there are comparable problems for other platforms like region locking, limited physical production runs, pricing inequality, and the same inability to download after some time or event if you want to point the finger back.
People who hate mobile are always going to find something. As are people who hate Nintendo, console, PC, handheld, motion games, VR, whatever. Very few of them are "right".
Many thanks, if you end up picking it up I hope you enjoy it. I feel your pain, my first iPad mini was 16gb, and wow that felt insufficient within a month. Ever since then I've always told myself to go 64gb at least. It costs a bit more up front but it's just such a hassle juggling your apps.
For what it's worth, I toiled over compression and asset sizes to get the build as small as possible. I'm pretty happy with the size, particularly since all of the voice over and cutscenes are intact.
Frostt
Member
Looks way to awesome to pass it up
I been searching it for the past hour (midnight in the UK, my timezone, all the other apps are available) and cant find it. Guess is an US release. 3 hours from now. I will go to sleep and buy it it as soon as I wake up.And yes, I bought it because I always had a 16GB iPhone (4, 5 and 6) and never needed more space, but apps grow, iOS grows (still takes 1.6 GB after it was supposed to be reduced, maybe its on 9.1 only?) and I regret not buying the 64GB model. Money wasn't the problem, problem was my lack of anticipation on that matter. iPhone 7 will be 64GB for sure.
More_Badass
Member
I have to say, I'm really impressed with Dust's controls. A game like this could be a disaster on touch. The only games that have really attempted that kind of combat are Implosion and Ghost Blade, but I'd say this is more impressive because it's adapting a control scheme that was originally made for a gamepad
The touch controls are simple and elegant. Left side to move and dash-dodge, right side for a quartet of buttons that let you jump and string together myriad combos. It may sound crowded but it's not
The touch controls are simple and elegant. Left side to move and dash-dodge, right side for a quartet of buttons that let you jump and string together myriad combos. It may sound crowded but it's not
Star Wars Heroes Path is free (normally $3.99).
https://itunes.apple.com/app/star-wars-heroes-path/id985443502?mt=8
https://itunes.apple.com/app/star-wars-heroes-path/id985443502?mt=8
Not sure if the force is strong with this one. Looks loaded with IAPs, but I suppose trying it for free wouldn't be the end of the world.
------
Back to the topic of today. I saw TA posted that some apps are starting to show back up in Purchase History.
Just checked a few and Dead Space and Flight Control are back while Project 83113 is not. Super Monkey Ball 2 is also there so guessing Sega's pulled apps are starting to come back too.
Hopefully most of the games that were pulled but not meant to be purged from history will come back. Guessing Apple f'd up something.
Don't have a lot of room to try out big games like Dead Space, but just downloaded and played Flight Control. Works perfectly fine from what I played so don't think EA pulled it fo iOS 9 compatibility issues.
Sega needs to update a stack of their stuff. From memory Chu Chu Rocket was completely broken on anything post 3GS and After Burner Climax performed horribly on everything.
I also want them to make the iOS version of Transformed back to how it was. I hate the IAP bullshit they turned that game into, especially since I bought it just so I could have a portable version of the console/PC title.
US link for Dust:
https://appsto.re/us/UvQ28.i
https://appsto.re/us/UvQ28.i
Since they pulled those games from sale, there won't be any more updates. But Super Monkey Ball 2 works so if there are other Sega games that were pulled that anyone had, it's worth a download to at least give them a try.
Noticed that Ghost Trick is back. Before I make room for it, does anyone know if it was actually "broken"?
More_Badass
Member
$5.99, that's a pretty damn good price for the quality and content
Rodney McKay
Member
Do you need to have owned Monkey Ball in order to get it now?
I tried searching for it but it didn't show up (just that Monkey Ball branded Peggle knockoff).
It's coming back when it's fixed.
Monster Hunter is back too.
Glad to see the Appocalypse is over
It's coming back when it's fixed.
Monster Hunter is back too.
Glad to see the Appocalypse is over
It shows up in my purchase history, but it's probably not fixed yet.