Apple opens the App Store to retro game emulators

[Obioban]

Summary

 

Probably to make people less likely to install alternate app stores, Apple is now approving emulators on their App Store.

 

Quotes

Quote

Game emulators have long been banned on the App Store — and they were one of the big reasons users in Europe might seek out third-party marketplaces.

 

My thoughts

Seems like only a good thing as an iPhone owner. That said, interesting timing with Nintendo just winning that take down case on the switch emulator. 

 

I can see why they did it for sure-- emulators are THE category that might temp me to use an alternate app store.

 

Sources

https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/5/24122341/apple-app-store-game-emulators-super-apps

[Lightwreather]

Doth mine eyes deceive me? Truly, will retroarch finally be upon the apple?

I see this as an absolute win

[Kisai]

44 minutes ago, Lightwreather said:

Doth mine eyes deceive me? Truly, will retroarch finally be upon the apple?

I see this as an absolute win

Doubtful.

 

The more likely scenario is that it would allow Nintendo/Sony/SquareEnix/etc to release "Nintendo switch online" types of services.

 

Like you have to understand that the most emulators are under licenses that would not allow them to be distributed on iOS because there's not a way to include the source code. Unless you compiled it yourself there was no way to legitimately put it on your device anyway. Not unless it was was a BSD/MIT license at least.

 

Certain games that you can buy on Steam right now, are emulators, or something close to it. For example:

This doesn't work. Like at all. Yet if you unpack the unity files, guess what's inside? Plain working ROMs that do work in any available SNES and Sega Mega Drive emulator. You just need to know which goes with what.

 

Another example, 

Sega delisted it, but it still exists if you bought it:

"SEGA Mega Drive and Genesis Classics"

Exactly the same as the Disney package above, at it is is an emulator, you can pull the games from it.

 

You can do this for dozens of other games, if you bought it on any original media, a lot of Square Enix games you buy on steam now, or previously on mobile, or on PSX, that were originally SNES, GB or GBA games, used the original game ROM, even though the "game" is little more than a script interpreter that understands the original binary. Like you would with ScummVM.

 

Does ScummVM count as an emulator? Does MAME count as an emulator. After all both of these are playing the original games without the original hardware.  But their source code license prohibits them being used on iOS, Playstation, Switch, Xbox, because they can't include the source code for the SDK for the game consoles, nor include the source code of the game.

 

Apple primarily didn't want emulators on their platform because of the possibility of using them to jailbreak the device and play pirated media. If a program has a fixed set of games that are licensed to be played (a la switch online) or is in fact a more generic emulator that works with a USB attachment to an actual "cart reader" that's permissible. Technically.

 

From a legal perspective, it would be smart for Nintendo to actually find a way to get Switch Online on the iPhone/iPad, because they could then say any other emulators of NES/SNES/GB are unauthorized and likely pirate software. But we all know they're not going to do this. I would expect Square Enix and SEGA to just release their games this way and forgo having to deal with both Nintendo and Apple's middle-grounds, and just deliver their old games directly to players.

 

One way or another.

 

[Obioban]

28 minutes ago, Kisai said:

Doubtful.

 

The more likely scenario is that it would allow Nintendo/Sony/SquareEnix/etc to release "Nintendo switch online" types of services.

 

Like you have to understand that the most emulators are under licenses that would not allow them to be distributed on iOS because there's not a way to include the source code. Unless you compiled it yourself there was no way to legitimately put it on your device anyway. Not unless it was was a BSD/MIT license at least.

 

Certain games that you can buy on Steam right now, are emulators, or something close to it. For example:

This doesn't work. Like at all. Yet if you unpack the unity files, guess what's inside? Plain working ROMs that do work in any available SNES and Sega Mega Drive emulator. You just need to know which goes with what.

 

Another example, 

Sega delisted it, but it still exists if you bought it:

"SEGA Mega Drive and Genesis Classics"

Exactly the same as the Disney package above, at it is is an emulator, you can pull the games from it.

 

You can do this for dozens of other games, if you bought it on any original media, a lot of Square Enix games you buy on steam now, or previously on mobile, or on PSX, that were originally SNES, GB or GBA games, used the original game ROM, even though the "game" is little more than a script interpreter that understands the original binary. Like you would with ScummVM.

 

Does ScummVM count as an emulator? Does MAME count as an emulator. After all both of these are playing the original games without the original hardware.  But their source code license prohibits them being used on iOS, Playstation, Switch, Xbox, because they can't include the source code for the SDK for the game consoles, nor include the source code of the game.

 

Apple primarily didn't want emulators on their platform because of the possibility of using them to jailbreak the device and play pirated media. If a program has a fixed set of games that are licensed to be played (a la switch online) or is in fact a more generic emulator that works with a USB attachment to an actual "cart reader" that's permissible. Technically.

 

From a legal perspective, it would be smart for Nintendo to actually find a way to get Switch Online on the iPhone/iPad, because they could then say any other emulators of NES/SNES/GB are unauthorized and likely pirate software. But we all know they're not going to do this. I would expect Square Enix and SEGA to just release their games this way and forgo having to deal with both Nintendo and Apple's middle-grounds, and just deliver their old games directly to players.

 

One way or another.

 

I guess we'll see soon enough if you're right or not-- but that seems like it would do little to dissuade people from installing alternate app stores.

[wanderingfool2]

1 hour ago, Obioban said:

I guess we'll see soon enough if you're right or not-- but that seems like it would do little to dissuade people from installing alternate app stores.

From what I am reading of the guidelines from Apple it doesn't really cover emulators in the sense that I think you are thinking of it.

 

Based on how I am reading it, all of the roms will have to be purchased through in-app stores which means any company making it must hold the rights to it.  You also get the caveat that you must rate yours the same rating as the highest available game rating [so most will be M, 18+].

 

Overall this doesn't seem to be allowing what most people think of when talking about emulators...instead this is pretty much first party stuff that want to ram down another "remake" of the same old game.

[hishnash]

From reading through the rule change to me it reads as if this only applies to the mini app category.

That means you cant load games from disk to run etc.  All mini-apps much come from the app developer and they must have the rights to them.

So this rule change will let catalog vendors like those that created legal mini consoles publish apps that continue 100s of old titles but it will not let community emulators be on the App Store letting you load your own disk images. 

[Kisai]

9 hours ago, hishnash said:

From reading through the rule change to me it reads as if this only applies to the mini app category.

That means you cant load games from disk to run etc.  All mini-apps much come from the app developer and they must have the rights to them.

So this rule change will let catalog vendors like those that created legal mini consoles publish apps that continue 100s of old titles but it will not let community emulators be on the App Store letting you load your own disk images. 

What I would love to see are actual functional emulators for C64, Atari ST, Amiga 500, and game consoles of the same vintage (basically anything with a 6502, z80 or 68K) that are attached to a licensed game library. Or an Arcade emulator of licensed games. There is absolutely a market for making 2 and 4 player co-op arcade games a thing. Now imagine being able to do so with an iPad or SmartTV and a pair of Xbox or PlayStation controllers.

 

The reality however is that companies that own the IP are never interested in doing this, and when it involves two IP (eg the developer and the license of the television show or other property, think "The Simpsons" or "TMNT" arcade games) it will likely never happen unless there's a way to just play the original arcade ROM on the device. Goodluck ever seeing a remake of anything that was originally a licensed property.

[BoomerDutch]

Hah finally allowing emulators typical move.

 

"According to our stats most users is going to third party app because they all want emulators! Oh dear lord better allow all emulators or we are losing our dear members!"

 

[Mark Kaine]

On 4/11/2024 at 6:12 PM, Lightwreather said:

Doth mine eyes deceive me? Truly, will retroarch finally be upon the apple?

I see this as an absolute win

Apple? More like Arrrrrrrrrrple! right? ☠ 

[Mark Kaine]

On 4/11/2024 at 9:58 PM, hishnash said:

but it will not let community emulators be on the App Store

whats a "community emulator"? why are we making up categories as we go? most emulators are free but that doesn't make them a special category,  emulators are legal by definition paid or free doesn't effin matter.  

[Obioban]

Well, further adding to confusion of what Apple's change of policy means, on Sunday Apple approved a Game Boy Emulator (https://www.macrumors.com/2024/04/14/game-boy-emulator-in-app-store/) but then pulled it for violating the company's App Review Guidelines related to spam (section 4.3) and copyright (section 5.2), but it did not provide any specific details (https://www.macrumors.com/2024/04/15/apple-removes-igba-from-app-store/)

 

Apparently the GB emulator in question was a ripoff of GBA4iOS, so the copyright violation in question may, or may not, have been of the emulator itself.

 

Personally, the fact that it was initially approved makes me think they're opened up to 3rd party emulators,  but it's certainly not cut and dry that that's the case.

[Obioban]

Annnnnnd, seems like they're allowing emulatARRRRS.

 

https://www.macrumors.com/2024/04/15/apple-further-explains-igba-removal/

Quote

iGBA was a copycat version of developer Riley Testut's open-source GBA4iOS app, with the addition of ads on top. While it did not explicitly name GBA4iOS, Apple told us it removed iGBA from the App Store after learning that it was a knockoff app that copied another developer's work and attempted to pass it off as its own.

 

Notably, Apple confirmed to us that emulators on the App Store are permitted to load ROMs downloaded from the web, so long as the app is emulating retro console games only. Apple also said it had approved iGBA's functionality, before learning that it was a knockoff app, suggesting that Game Boy emulation is permitted on the App Store, but the company has yet to share any other examples of retro game consoles.

 

All in all, it appears that iGBA was removed from the App Store entirely because it was a ripoff of GBA4iOS, rather than due to piracy concerns resulting from users being able to load any ROM downloaded from the web. However, exactly which consoles Apple considers to be retro, and if there will be any other restrictions, remains to be seen.

 

[LAwLz]

Great to see that we will (probably) get emulators on iOS.

 

I used to play some emulators on my jailbroken iPod touch and later my Galaxy S4, but I quickly got bored of them. The touch screen was simply a bad way of playing retro games. Maybe it would be more playable with a bluetooth controller, but I doubt I'll carry that around with me. But I think it is good that iOS is loosening on some of its restrictions.

I do however see this being a massive with for Apple TV if the same rules apply there. 

[Obioban]

On 4/15/2024 at 3:18 PM, LAwLz said:

Great to see that we will (probably) get emulators on iOS.

 

I used to play some emulators on my jailbroken iPod touch and later my Galaxy S4, but I quickly got bored of them. The touch screen was simply a bad way of playing retro games. Maybe it would be more playable with a bluetooth controller, but I doubt I'll carry that around with me. But I think it is good that iOS is loosening on some of its restrictions.

I do however see this being a massive with for Apple TV if the same rules apply there. 

I've had retroarch installed on my ATV for a year (self compiled, using my developer account). I've used it... once, to see if it worked :P. Beyond that, pretty hard to pull me away from my MisterFPGA.

 

I could see buying some of those strap on side controllers for a long plane ride.

 

I can see why they're opening this up. When I was thinking about why I might want to install an alternate app store, the only reason I could come up with is emulators. This is no skin off Apple's back, and dramatically reduces incentive to look elsewhere. Really, I wonder why they held off as long as they did-- for a long time, it has been the only slightly alluring thing about Android to me.

[Obioban]

https://www.macrumors.com/2024/04/17/delta-game-emulator-iphone/

 

Quote

popular game emulator Delta from developer Riley Testut is available for download.

Testut is known as the developer behind GBA4iOS, an open-source emulator that was available on the App Store for a brief time more than a decade ago. GBA4iOS led to Delta, an emulator that has been available outside of the ‌App Store‌, but is now sanctioned by Apple.

Delta is an all-in-one emulator that supports game systems including NES, SNES, N64, Nintendo DS, Game Boy, and Game Boy Advance. It works with popular game controllers, and supports cheats, save states, backups, syncing, and more.

If there was any doubt left, this should settle it.

[thevictor390]

This is a good thing and partially removes a reason I find iPhone less appealing.

Why only partially? Apple could change their mind at any time. They still have full control over what apps you are allowed to run.

 

[Obioban]

45 minutes ago, thevictor390 said:

This is a good thing and partially removes a reason I find iPhone less appealing.

Why only partially? Apple could change their mind at any time. They still have full control over what apps you are allowed to run.

 

Don't forget they're doing this to decrease the incentive to move to alternate app stores. As in, they don't control that.

 

Either way, once you download an app, it's yours to download forever-- even if Apple pulls it off the store.