iOS Games for SA
I develop computer AI for the game of Go. My engine that I test ideas on is open source and has another contributor. He has recently released his port of my engine to iOS. However, the iOS version is marked as a game, and apparently, even though he has selected to distribute worldwide, it will not be available in SA.
Have any of you experienced the same thing? Is there a way around it?
I do not own any Apple products, so I am not very familiar with their developer ecosystem.
Have any of you experienced the same thing? Is there a way around it?
I do not own any Apple products, so I am not very familiar with their developer ecosystem.
Comments
I think that apps have to go through individual by-country submissions or something in order for them to appear at each app stores. The SA app store is really pretty useless, if you have an SA iTunes account you most likely won't be able to find over 90% of the games that gets mentioned online.
I haven't put an app up on the app store yet, but I imagine there's a process where you submit for the US store, for the SA store, for the Spanish store, etc etc etc, and he hasn't done one for SA yet.
It is a global submission as far as I have seen, you just need to be logged in as a user from a region that allows games downloads.
The article: http://mashable.com/2012/02/13/mobile-apps-international/
@francoisvn, you build Go AIs? Fucking awesome! Gimme! What's the port called on the US app store? Do you get a cut? Need a tester?
It seems like either it will just be a matter of time before it gets approved for the SA store, or we might have to follow a separate process to get it submitted for the SA store. I was hoping someone here might have some experience in the matter, specifically for the SA store - internationally it seems to be available already. I will ask around a bit more and see what I can dig up. Thank you for all the interest so far.
@dislekcia: Yip, I'm at the MIH Media Lab at Stellenbosch and I am doing my masters in Computer Go. I have setup a website at http://oakfoam.com with Windows and Linux binaries. The iOS port is called "NiceGo". I haven't seen the port myself actually, hence this discussion.
The default selection is "worldwide" which will submit it to all the countries.
Here's an article about South Africa's lack of games on iTunes:
http://www.thyon.com/blog/apples-lack-of-games-music-movies-tv-in-south-africa
We have the additional law that requires a distributor to get each individual game rated by the Film and Publications Board.
This means that for every game a distributor wants to release in SA they have to pay to get it rated.
And there are hundreds of thousands of games on iTunes, including free ones which Apple probably also have to get rated.
According to the article there are ways around the law, but it may be too much of a risk or too much uncertainty surrounding it.
@francoisvn I do not know if there's a way around it for you. One possible way might be to submit your game under a different category, but at the risk that Apple will reject it because it is a game. And I personally think that's not worth the risk.
You can also contact Apple and find out how to get your game submitted to the SA store.
@Tuism setting up different languages is optional. Of course, people are more likely to buy an app if it is in their native language.
Here's a link to the iTunes developer guide which explains the whole process and all the info you need to submit an app (there's also a pdf download): http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/LanguagesUtilities/Conceptual/iTunesConnect_Guide/1_Introduction/Introduction.html
Of interest this issue was raised in Parliament last week, so we may see some action happening.
1. Leave things as-is, might come to the SA store at some point in the future.
2. Pay about R1000 to get a rating.
3. Try and submit the app in a different category.
I think I will be choosing 1 for now and seeing how things go.