Apple once again explains why it removed Game Boy emulator iGBA: Plagiarism is the cause of trouble, not copyright issues

According to news on April 16, a Game Boy emulator called iGBA appeared in the Apple App Store last weekend, but was quickly removed from the store due to violating the spam and copyright-related provisions of Apple's App Review Guidelines. Today, Apple further explained its reasons for removing iGBA and clarified its regulations for emulators.

iGBA is a plagiarized version of developer Riley Testut's open source project GBA4iOS, with additional advertising added. Apple said it removed iGBA after learning it plagiarized other people's work and tried to pass it off as someone else's. It is worth noting that Apple has made it clear that the App Store allows the loading of ROM games downloaded from the Internet, provided that the application is only used to emulate retro game consoles. Apple also mentioned that they approved iGBA's functionality before learning it was a plagiarized work, suggesting that products like Game Boy emulators could be listed on the Apple App Store. However, Apple has not yet disclosed information about other compatible retro game consoles. In short, the main reason why iGBA was removed from the shelves was not the copyright issue caused by users being able to load network ROMs, but because it copied GBA4iOS. However, it's unclear which consoles Apple has classified as "retro" and whether there will be other restrictions in the future. In addition, it is noted that Nintendo’s attitude towards Apple’s move to allow Game Boy emulators to be listed on the iPhone App Store is also of concern. Nintendo's US customer service website clearly states that downloading pirated copies (ROMs) of its games is illegal. Apple updated its App Review Guidelines earlier this month to allow retro console emulators to be listed. However, Apple also emphasized that emulator developers are "fully responsible" for all software provided within their apps, including compliance with "all applicable laws."

The above is the detailed content of Apple once again explains why it removed Game Boy emulator iGBA: Plagiarism is the cause of trouble, not copyright issues. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!