Developer angry that App Store is removing game that hasn't been updated in 7 years
A game developer has accused Apple of undermining the cultural value of games by threatening to pull an app that hasn't seen a single update for seven years from the App Store.
Wheels of Aurelia is facing removal from the App Store
Apple is repeatedly under fire for its App Store policies, but occasionally the complaints against it are questionable. One developer in Italy is declaring that Apple's warning it will delist a game from the App Store is an affront to culture itself.
Santa Ragione, a developer of Horses and Saturnalia, was told that its game Wheels of Aurelia will be removed from the App Store on July 25, 2025. Speaking to Game Developer, the studio took the news extremely poorly.
Apple warned the studio that the game would be delisted, but the studio insists that the reasoning for the removal was unclear. After appealing twice, studio co-founder and director Pietro Righi Riva was then called by a member of Apple's team, who told the developer to file another appeal.
Despite the repeated appeals, Apple is still seeking to remove the game from the App Store.
A "lack" of justification
In its response to the warnings, Riva insists that Apple has been unclear as to why the app will be taken down. Or at least, not clear enough in a way that suits the company's needs.
He says Apple "has not provided clear justification for this removal." Granted, Apple does have a history of not being great with developer communications, but this time it seems more clear-cut.
This is especially true when that sentence continues to say that Apple cited "only" its policy for removing apps deemed "obsolete" or "outdated." This shouldn't apply to the game in question because it is still fully functional and compliant with current standards, Riva claims.
Riva then goes on to insist that Apple's move is anti-art and anti-culture.
"We firmly believe that removing fully functional artistic works simply due to infrequent updates undermines the value and sustainability of games as cultural and artistic products," he declares. Just like books and films, games represent creative works that "do not inherently require continual updates beyond maintaining basic functionality."
Updating Wheels of Aurelia would demand "very significant resources" to update the engine and other elements. All without making any "meaningful enhancements" to either the user experience or artistic value.
Forced updates represent a "substantial financial burden" that draws resources from other new projects, he adds.
Removing the apps also impacts the visibility of developers, Riva continues, affecting their recognition in a "very competitive industry." Apple's approach puts smaller developers at risk due to needing to continuously update their projects to meet changing demands.
Riva also jabs at Apple's apparent gatekeeping, saying its "dominant position" makes such practices "especially troubling." He then commends EU regulations like the Digital Markets Act designed to make a fairer market and prevent monopolistic behaviors.
"This obsoletion [sic] policy further reinforces a vision that does not recognize games as an art form," Riva concludes. "It is a view that, unfortunately, is becoming increasingly common across the industry."
Ahead of the scheduled pulling of the game, it has been made available as a free download in the App Store.
Clearing the digital storefront
Apple has quite a few policies in place that impact how an app is added to the App Store, and how it must act while included within it. What is less talked about are policies that can see an app removed from the App Store.
There are the more obvious rules, such as content, which can get an app kicked out. But there are also rules that titles such as Wheels of Aurelia have fallen afoul of.
In this instance, the policies stem from "App Store Improvements" that Apple first introduced nine years ago, in September 2016. For apps that no longer functioned as intended or followed current review guidelines, Apple said they would evaluate the apps for issues, notify the developers of them, and potentially remove abandoned apps from the App Store.
This also included apps that "have not been supported with compatibility updates for a long time," in Apple's own words. "Compatibility updates" include device resolution adds, of which there have been three since the last time the game was updated.
By 2022, Apple clarified the criteria surrounding the process. This included justifications for maintaining security and compatibility with current hardware, but also for underperforming apps.
The last update in the App Store for Wheels of Aurelia was over seven years ago
Apple warned that developers of apps that had not been updated within the last three years and had failed to meet a "minimal download threshold" would receive an email warning about potential removal.
That threshold is further clarified to mean an app that had not been downloaded at all or "extremely few times" during a rolling 12-month period.
Developers were also given more time to update their apps, up to 90 days, to comply with the rules. The timeline continues to be adhered to by the current App Store Improvements policy.
When it comes to determining whether Wheels of Aurelia has fallen afoul of the rules, we can check at least one of the variables.
The game was released in 2016, but it's only had a few version updates since then. The last one was to version 1.1.2, on December 6, 2017.
By the time of the 2022 clarification of the policy applying to apps without updates for three years, the game hadn't been updated for over four years. At the time of publication, that's now stretched to seven years without an update.
Timeliness is a virtue
Riva's arguments for updates have a point, and it can be summed up by the adage "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Taking that approach can certainly apply in many areas, but app development isn't one of them.
Software security continues to be an important factor of modern-day computing, and making sure your software isn't contributing to the problem is just good policy.
Ensuring the apps continue to work properly on newer models of iPhone is also a very consumer-first approach. The iPhone 7 family of devices was released at that time, and there have been many releases -- with different screen resolutions -- since then.
Wheels of Aurelia - Image Credit: Santa Ragione
Updates ideally could be made to take into account some of the changes, such as the aforementioned resolution or other internal specifications. Occasional compatibility updates would keep the app fresh in users eyes too, even if there were no material changes made to it.
There was enough justification in performing even one minor change to the app and updating it in the App Store, just to reset that three-year clock.
This would certainly pull a small amount of resources away from other projects as the developer says. But at least the game would be kept alive and in the store.
There is the counterargument that no one wants to resubmit a game update to the App Store Review process without justification, especially if it's in an already usable state.
Periodically doing so will at least ensure that the app will work for a few more years without any more tweaks needed.
It's Apple's store
Apple's policies to remove titles from the App Store due to age and unpopularity are well within its rights as a retailer. It doesn't have to list your products, but it tends to do so since it will make some money off it in most cases.
At the same time, it has to ensure that its consumers are kept safe, but also offered products that are both current and popular.
A game that hasn't received updates in multiple years is not what you can consider "current," even if it functions fine.
Likewise, with Apple having to deal with hundreds and thousands of new apps and app updates every day, there is a lot of apps trying to become the most popular.
Apple's removal of old and unpopular apps also means there are fewer items on its infinite shelf space for consumers to choose from. It helps nudge consumers toward apps that others use and that they may also want to purchase, instead of old apps no-one else really uses anymore.
There is no value to Apple recommending an app that no one else has downloaded for months, since the market has already demonstrated the app no longer has a perceived value to the App Store. Removing it is a better option for Apple than keeping it around and wasting consumer attention, with a high likelihood of it not being bought anyway.
The argument that this is Apple denying the artistic value of a game is also not really applicable here. This is a policy based on schedule and hard data, not opinion.
While you may think an app or a game is considered art and should be included in the App Store, Apple doesn't have to abide by that. It's playing by literally different rules.
One door closes, others stay open
Apple's pulling of an app from an App Store because no one's downloaded it in ages doesn't stop you from being able to acquire the game elsewhere.
It is still available on modern consoles, including the Nintendo Switch, Xbox, and PlayStation storefronts. It's also on the Epic Games Store and Steam for macOS, and even Google Play if you have an Android device.
While it won't necessarily be available from the App Store once the deadline passes, you can still get the game from many other venues. If you already have it for iOS, you'll also still be able to play it after its removal.
The best defense against the removal is actually something that Santa Ragione should've done. It had literally years to update the game, and it chose not to do it.
At this point, Apple has seemingly been very generous in allowing the game to exist in the App Store until now.
It has led the proverbial horse to the trough, filled it with clean and cool water, and even offered a sugar lump. Santa Ragione loudly complains that it is extremely thirsty, but won't take a sip.
We have reached out to Apple for comment. We are not expecting an answer.
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Comments
That means pieces once popular may not remain so and thus get pulled out.
The developer is just lazy and expectant of people stumbling on their title and giving them money. The problem is that most users would look at when it was last updated and decide not to download.
I know I do.
You guys should check it out!
If there was a love reaction I would've used it! Thank you!
Your argument is facetious at best.
I don't know what toolchain this developer is using, but here is what I know about Xcode.
The latest Xcode won't even open a 7 year old xcode project, and if you have a VM with the old macOS and the old Xcode then it won't connect to Apple to upload or sign it.
Maybe if you upgrade the app each year with each new Xcode it's easier, but in my experience, apps older than 3-5 years need a total rewrite. I also see this on the App Store, apps I use often seem to get a "rewrite" about every 3 years and no longer than every 5 years.
From my perspective it's much easier to develop for windows desktops where the visual studio 2022 will happily open and compile a 20 year old Visual C 6 project, or develop for Linux servers where the latest gcc happily compiles 20 or 30 year old code. Sure the resulting program may look "old" but it doesn't need a rewrite, it just needs small UI updates, which will only consume "a small amount of resources" from the development team.
I have sympathy for his argument for sure, but part of the reason why the iPhone is so "popular" (in the sense people get a new one every 3-5 years, and tend to stay in the ecosystem) is that it and its operating system iOS evolves fairly quickly over time. If he'd developed the app for Windows Phone, the same would also be true - his app would be removed from the Windows App Store - not because his app is old, but because the Windows App Store, the Windows Phone and the entire ecosystem is no more, it's gone, it's kaput.
Sure in an ideal world Apple would enable long term code compatibility and keep up with modern trends, but they've made it clear that they don't think it's possible. So we get incompatibility, lots of developer work to stay in the same spot, but an ecosystem that does actually still exist. And just like OS9 emulators can run on macOS or even iPadOS today - maybe his old app will one day run in an iPhone 2017 emulator - gone but not forgotten.