Summary
- Apple’s new App Store guidelines may allow retro game emulators on iOS, but accessing ROMs is still unclear.
- Developers behind emulators like PPSSPP and Mikage are concerned about in-app downloadable files on iOS.
- Until we have clarification, Android remains the go-to platform for mobile emulation.
Like it or not, it’s no secret iOS and Android are closer to each other than ever — even more so if you live in the EU. Last week, it appeared as though another Android-specific benefit had fallen, as Apple updated its App Store guidelines to allow for retro game emulators worldwide. That’s a big change, but as with so many elements of iOS, nothing’s as simple as it seems. And if one emulator developer is to be believed, some of the wording might be just specific enough to keep Android the sole destination for retro gaming fans on mobile.
Henrik Rydgård, the creator behind the popular PSP emulator PPSSPP, put out a statement over the weekend addressing Apple’s announcement directly (via Mishaal Rahman). In short, although these new App Store guidelines seem to guarantee some of our favorite emulators are iOS-bound, the language used in the update makes things a whole lot less clear. As Rydgård points out, Apple’s terminology might make it so emulators are allowed, but the ability to actually play your collection of ROMs isn’t. He writes:
Apple just added a few lines to their iOS App Store review guidelines, including this:
“Additionally, retro game console emulator apps can offer to download games,”
This seems to imply that retro game console emulators (the PSP is almost 20 years old, that’s has to count as “retro”) will be allowed in the iOS App Store – however, it’s also mentioned later that “links must be provided to all downloadable software”, which makes it unclear if it emulators will be allowed to let the user pick from their own files, and not just app-internal downloads.
Rydgård goes onto say that PPSSPP, obviously, lacks the rights to these games, meaning they can only be uploaded from the user’s own collection of dumped UMDs (however you may locate them), not through in-app downloads. An emulator is only as good as the software it can run, and if ROMs are effectively unable to be accessed by emulation apps on iOS, they won’t come to the platform. Rydgård says if this isn’t the case — if Apple’s language is, instead, needlessly confusing — PPSSPP will eventually be on the App Store.
These emulation guidelines might purely be for platform owners
He’s not the only emulator developer echoing these thoughts. The Twitter account for Mikage, a 3DS emulation in the works for Android and PC with a focus on recreating as authentic an experience as possible, shared their own concerns over the weekend, highlighting the same concerns over the in-app downloadable files. In their eyes, these rules exist for companies like Sega to bring officially-licensed Genesis collections to the App Store, now with the ability to “dynamically download licensed games on-demand.”
In some ways, that’s good news for Android users — it leaves Google’s platform as the premiere destination for mobile ROMs outside of dedicated handhelds like the Steam Deck. But if you were excited to see your iPhone-owning friends check out some games from your shared childhoods this summer, prepare for everyone involved to be disappointed. Or, you know, tell them to buy an Android phone. Either way.
The golden age of Nintendo emulators on Android is over
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