Oh come on, that was high profile in 2013 maybe. It sucks to lose a “classic”, but I doubt it has many people still buying it today. Unfortunately the shelf life for apps is really short. And most people won’t pay for a game, let alone buy one from 2013.
Also, as stated we don’t know what will happen. I would bet if you bought it, you can still play it after iOS 11 hits. It just won’t be on the App Store. If you want to keep your old apps, back them up.
iOS can run all those emulators as well, it doesn’t officially for copyright reasons, but you can still get them.
Edit: good to hear you can security updates without buying a new phone. Still Nougat has been out for almost 8 months and not even 5% of Android phones run it.
Warhammer Quest is just one example. There are countless more 32 bit apps still on the App Store, including XCOM, FTL, Final Fantasy Tactics, Baldurs Gate, and World of Goo. If you regularly buy apps, then you are very likely to buy one between now and when iOS 11 lands, unless you are one of the few people who checks release dates.
If you can still use these apps in iOS 11, but no longer buy them, then I don’t think there would be a major problem. But I fear Apple might take a more heavy-handed approach.
To be honest, if I had to choose between even one of those games and whatever iOS 11 is rumored to bring (improved Siri, Dark Mode, performance bump, etc) then I would very likely stick with iOS 10. It would be amusing if Apple brought about the same OS fragmentation it likes to mock in Android.
Most of those developers are still around, and they also have a responsibility to keep their apps updated (especially for those expensive games). If they still get any sales from them, I bet they will. Rodeo Games seems to be gone though.
Curious, does anyone know how much work is required to update a 32 bit app to 64?
Let’s wait and see what happens before we worry about it.
Much like the headphone jack, I bet this results in nothing other than a few upset users. Most people will just move on.
Exactly. In the future, you are selling things and making your 30% cut. Why bother taking care of customers who have already given you their 30% cut and aren’t currently adding to your bottom line?
Apple sells nice hardware, but what they are really selling is access to the developer community that has flourished within the App Store. A Vader-style “pray I don’t alter the deal further” approach seems counterproductive, but then I’m not an Apple zombie. I like 'em but I don’t love 'em.
I already delete apps that haven’t seen an update in a few years, or is still using the pre-iOS 7 UX. It’s easy to find apps with similar functionality. As for games, there are literally tens of thousands of games on the app store. I’m sure I’ll be able to find more games to play. So for me, removing these abandoned apps is not a big deal.
An app that hasn’t been updated in a few years likely contains a fair amount of deprecated API’s. It could be more work than it’s worth for some developers.
How does Microsoft have a “perfect backwards compatibility at all costs” strategy? Do you not recall the DOS and 16-bit application support issues with the introduction of 2000/XP? Or the compatibility problems with Vista and 10? The difference is Microsoft actually makes an effort to provide workarounds, or at least fosters an environment that makes such workarounds possible.
I don’t know about everyone else, but Microsoft’s backwards compatibility is the reason I have been and will continue to be a user of Windows. I have a catalog of hundreds of games, and a strong desire to not have a house full of a dozen systems to play them on. I also have this bizarre personality trait that causes me to want to retain enjoyable purchases that I’ve made instead of tossing them in the dumpster at the whims of a tech giant.
I don’t even think it’s necessarily Apple’s fault here, even though they could obviously do something to provide support for 32 bit apps. It is simply another reason to treat mobile purchases as rentals, which is why I’ll never pay more than rental prices on the App Store.
A dozen machines? Why bother? Old games are trivial to play via virtual machines, which is straightforward on Windows. But not an option, even a little, on iOS.
Forget 64-bit, there are iOS games that went obsolete long before that, before I ever even got a chance to finish them, like Rolando.
