All of my games are removed or rejected by the same reason, Guideline 4.3 - Design And I'm really sure this is all mistakes, so I appealed all the apps rejection one by one, and after 10 mins later, got emails from apple like below. Guys, I'm kinda shocked, what I need to do now? <We are writing to let you know the results of your appeal for your app, Basketball Shooting - 3 point.The App Review Board evaluated your app and determined that the original removal feedback is valid. Your app does not comply with the App Store Review Guidelines.We hope you will consider making the necessary changes to be in compliance with the App Store Review Guidelines and will resubmit your revised binary.For questions regarding your app’s review, please respond in Resolution Center in App Store Connect, where a reviewer who is familiar with your app can assist you. Best regards,App Review Board>
Looks like they’re cracking down on unoriginal games. I don’t even have to play By Your Side to know what it is. I'm sure you put a lot of effort into that game and made it different though. The problem is that Apple gets bombarded by clones all day long thanks to the rise of app selling websites and they're probably not going to look the other way anymore. There was a Helix Jump clone that got really high up on the charts not too long ago. I'm sure they took notice and starting enforcing the rules more strictly. Not sure why yours is bad and Rise Up and Keep It Alive! are fine, since they're basically clones too.
Yes, unfortunately I believe that J MIller is right. Probably submitting 5 games at once also hurt your.
I don't know how to show you, but if you search "rise up" or "force escape" in app store, there are like 10 copying rise up or force escape games there. and most of them are low quality, even copying game scenes without any change. But they are approved and live. and yeah so let's assume that my "by your side" is a copy of it. But what about other games? I don' t really get it
I would write in the resolution center and ask kindly why the apps got rejected. Your games look original. Even by your side looks original at least it doesn't look like Rise Up or Keep It Alive. So you are not infringing copyrights. I must say, it's difficult nowadays to know what Apple is thinking or doing. @Buildbox we thought about that the problem might be Buildbox itself. Has that been questioned from your side? One thing we thought might be a problem is the name BBPlayer which is the same for all the apps and that this might trigger some automatic rejection? I personally doubt it because these 5 games obviously are not rejected because of that and I know of another that just got through first time. But I thought I would ask anyway.
We've definitely thought of this before, and Trey even had a conversation about this with Apple in the past. As far as we know, and have been told, it is not an issue. Apple did not remove any Buildbox apps when they had their mass ban on app builders, and they featured a couple of Buildbox games last week. We are pretty sure this is coming from a design/gameplay perspective. It seems Apple is doing a huge push to increase the quality of the app store in general. With the games above, I'm most surprised that By Your Side was not accepted, and this is why I am curious if it was because of submitting 5 very simple games at once. Also, it's really hard to tell with small screenshots, but some of the UI/UX might not be quite what the reviewer was wanting.
no, I did not submit 5 games at once, Some of them are approved 1-2 month ago, two of them were submitted as a new game 7 days ago. And today, old games are all removed, and new game are all rejected.
Thanks for saying that. I have replied them one by one in the resolution center as you said in another thread like below. Hi, I'm pretty sure that it's totally a mistake of saying this game is copying another one. I have done all the development by myself and the gameplay and design are unique. I've never seen a game that's same as this game in App store. So since you are saying this app is a copy, can you point towards the games that you think this game is copying?? or Can you please kindly review the app again? I'm available to talk about any issue by phone. (number) Thanks!
That's what Apple argues, but I can't explain myself how games like Dere Exe get rejected with the same argument. My last two games got the same rejection. One was Design Spam and the other Copycat. I have no clue since my games had original design and even gameplay with model and improve. It's really strange.
Dunno if this helps or not but I've got like 3 games on apple and none got removed. X1 Stunt Challenge...is kind of unique. Sherbet...not really unique at all. And my stick figure run game. Only thing is I have all ads disabled across all stores for now. No in app purchases or reward ads. A lot of people I know had at least 1 game get removed but none of mine did. I've also not touched them or updated them in like a year. Dunno if that info helps or not.
Oh, sorry I did not understand that. Then yes, that is really weird. Yes, I agree. It will be interesting to see if Apple less issues with 3D games compared to 2D.
I’ve also recently had a game removed from the AppStore that’s been live for 2-3 months for the same reason as above.
Question. Have all these games being removed been getting reasonable downloads? Or have they been effectively dormant with very little activity. If thats yes then perhaps Apple are prioritizing games to remove based on that criteria?
I find it a bit tasteless. If people pay Apple $99 p/a for the 'privilege' of releasing an app - they should be allowed to release what they want, outside of copyright infringements. Or, Apple should make the rules much clearer and stop hiding behind deep 'terms and conditions' that hardly anyone reads. If they aren't prepared to let those who just want to show off to their friends they made an app, they should refund their fee and enforce the rules across the board. I look at the store everyday, and see a ton of clones and it strikes me as unfair that one person can get many games removed, while another enjoys the free ride.
I can’t speak for anyone else’s games, but mine was doing alright. It accumulated several thousand downloads in those couple of months and was even my top earner for a week or so. I’m wondering if Buildbox games are being shortlisted somehow (possibly the BBPlayer name), therefore more easily spotted as possible clones and/or not-so unique games. Mine was removed the exact same time as @DariusGuerrero ’s Dere Exe game was. Very strange.
