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I feel sick. Apple just sent me an email saying they're removing my free game Motivoto because its more than 2 years old. It's part of their App improvement system. This is not cool. Console games from 2000 are still available for sale. This is an unfair barrier to indie devs.

3:07 AM · Apr 23, 2022Twitter Web App

Replying to

I'm sitting here on a Friday night, working myself to to bone after my day job, trying my best to scrape a living from my indie games, trying to keep up with Apple, Google, Unity, Xcode, MacOS changes that happen so fast my head spins while performing worse on older devices.

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Ridiculous

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It came as a real shock to me. And the implications - that these store can remove even perfectly good games anytime - have me stressed out to the max. I don't know what to think now. its really shaken m faith in the app stores, and I feel quite alone here.

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You’re unable to view this Tweet because this account owner limits who can view their Tweets. Learn more

In this case, yes. I am glad they have given devs the opportunity with the App Store. But I am not a giant game company. I am a single person who played D&D and loved making maps and just wanted to make and share some of the happiness I felt from playing games.

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Now I am expected, along with Google's new program, to update all of my games every 2 years even if nothing is wrong with them. Even yearly Unity updates break project so badly they won't run. This is not an insignificant challenge and adds undue stress.

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Now I need to dig up my project file, update the Unity version to make sure it meets the App Store requirements, rebuild, retest, resubmit all to get the exact same game in the exact same place it was before. For me this kind of surprise is the worst part of making games.

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I can at least try to understand getting rid of 32 bit apps years after 64 bit became standard. Or scam apps. or apps that collect data. Or broken apps. But this is a perfectly good game. No surprises. No tricks. Just something I worked very hard to make and love very much.

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Lofren (3D COMMISSIONS OPEN!)

Replying to

does "updated localization files" count as an update?

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I am certain even just rebuilding it would be enough. But as any Unity dev knows - especially if you build for iOS or android - updating a 2 year old project can, potentially, be a significant process. I am barely keeping up making Wilderless - this adds more uncertainty.

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There was no indication of what kind of update needs to be made. Just that the app must be "updated" or be removed. Is there some security or technical issue an update will solve? Are arbitrary updates to fully functioning apps a necessary part of our development workflow?

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HourADayGamer (AllDayIndieSupporter)

Replying to

Sorry to hear this. I’m not a dev, but what constitutes an “update”? Would it be as simple as changing the fonts in the menu? Adding a new line of text thanking so and so for something? Would something like that technically be an update? Just tossing around ideas.

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The problem is the entire pipeline. It's common for game projects upgraded to a new version of Unity to break because of their changes. Updating a game, especially complex one, to work with yearly Apple/Google new requirements can be a huge undertaking. Its hard enough with one.

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Replying to

Sorry for this man. Definitely you don't deserve it. It frankly sucks. My thoughts are with you!

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Thank you. That softens the blow a bit. I'm sure other devs have encountered this too. Motivoto is a small game but I worked really hard on it and as with all my games it was a labor of love.

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Replying to

Change the splash screen title to Motivoto! back in business in a flash! :P

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It's quite involved to do even that because it requires pipeline, not just project, updates. But the larger concern for me is arbitrary removal of a working app based on date.

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ecosystem of Android is far more pro-developer i feel..

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I like many aspects of both Apple and Android, and each has their strengths, but I've worked with both for almost ten years now and they both have large weaknesses for developers too. I do see them improving, which is why I was so shocked to get this message.

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@MBerninghausen

Replying to

Just never leave development, and always keep your engine up to date! #UE.5.0.1 Rocks!!!!

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Correction - my last update for Motivoto was March 2019, so more than three years ago, not two. My concerns are the same though - that a fully functioning indie app can be removed from the store with relatively little warning, and for no solid reason.

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This is awful, and the main reason I gave up entirely on mobile. You can't just release an app and move on to the next, you're expected to update constantly everything you've done so far be it required or not - otherwise, it's just removed.

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Deploying & maintaining apps is a chore, I feel ya! As a helpful note, I believe is that 64-bit version upload, universal build if it runs on multiple devices (optional), update (if any) dependencies or the project itself to the current minimum iOS targets and upload it.

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Thank you for the tip

I make games with Unity so it handles the Xcode project creation. I have to go back to the original project and update that to a newer version of Unity in order to re-export it. I'm working so hard on Wilderless though so this will have to wait.

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Sorry your hard work is getting hit with this. I released an iOS app years ago and the whole process of getting it on the store at all and keeping up with changing tools and requirements was so draining I eventually quit mobile apps entirely. Hoping for the best for you.

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Thank you. Honestly, I just want to make games. For whatever reasons I really do love it.

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Vagabond Studios

@VagabondStudio5

Replying to

There’s so many rules and updates you have to do to please the app stores these days. It’s such a mess and it’s really annoying.

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It's this combination of fast changing requirements that has made updating games difficult for me, because updating a mobile game doesn't just mean updating the game itself, it means updating the pipeline because AppStore requires Xcode requires MacOS requires Unity...

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Christoph Minnameier

@DoctorFunfrock

Replying to

You should be able to just resubmit? :)

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I go more in depth in other tweets but in a nutshell 1) upgrading unity projects is an involved process and is required to meet evolving App Store requirements 2) a precedent of removing functioning apps introduces uncertainty and overhead, especially for indie developers.

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MaxTheMurdererV2

Replying to

So is this why so many of my favorite one off yet unique App Store games were wiped from history??

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It could be a part of it. I had a game removed before - Plum Nit - but that was because it was a 32 bit app, and the App Store moved to 64 bit. In this case it's just like a month warning then it's gone. Im assuming this has happened to other apps as well.

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I’d guess they mostly do it so they can deprecate older apis faster mostly than anything else

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I don't know of that's true, but if that's an issue then I think companies should be transparent about that. I (barely) make a living wage from my games, and I have other complex games coming up on three years. What do I do if I get a message saying remove those in 30 days?

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Fire Biscuit Games

@firebiscuitgame

Replying to

Had the same happen to me with my previous game. I can't upgrade it because the engine I was using went defunct. I still have players asking me where to download it 6 years later. I managed to upload my apk to my website but we can't sideload iOS apps unfortunately.

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I 100% understand your experience.

I want to update my game BrightRidge. I have to upgrade it to New Unity engine which performs worse on older mobile. App stores don't allow roll backs. What if I upload it and it doesn't work on older devices? I'm stuck.

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I’m in the same position with Lily on Mac. As there is no change required to the binary, I’m hoping we will be able to just increment the version/build number in the existing Xcode project (that Unity generated in the last build) and resubmit. Will require getting…

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I had the exact same reaction. I won't port my new game on mobile.

Quote Tweet

COWCAT

BROK

@COWCATGames

· Apr 7

Now that I've calmed down a bit... If I put games on mobile someday I'll just sell them on my own site or alternative stores. I just won't abide to such arbitrary rules.

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That google announcement also left me feeling unsupported. I know how hard devs work already, and it feels like so many emails I am getting from app stores are about new rules and requirements, which would be fine if the barriers to updating weren't increasing as well.

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and

Yeah i hear those nonsense horrors, about obligatory updates. I heard authors just flip some useless bytes, colors, etc, so that it is "updated"

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