Reality and legal regulation sometimes go poorly together. What may be a good idea in theory turns out to be a disaster in practice. Something like this has happened with Apple’s policy change by allowing video game console emulators in its App Store for the first time. The company has removed the first of these new applications a few hours after having admitted it and having registered successful downloads.
Last weekend, several thousand nostalgic Game Boy Advance portable video game consoles were able to play childhood video games on their iPhone using an emulator called iGBA. This app is the first of its kind since Apple announced last week that it would allow them in its app store.
Regulatory pressure is increasing on Apple in several aspects, among which the App Store is one of the most important. The European Commission is investigating whether the company has correctly adapted to the new EU Digital Markets Law. In addition, the US Department of Justice and several states have filed a lawsuit denouncing as an anti-competitive practice the fact of not admitting applications in which other apps run, as would be the case with emulators.
In the case of iGBA, it was an app by developer Mattia La Spina based on open source software called GBA4iOS, created by Riley Testut under a license that requires it to be cited by the app that uses it, which was not the case.
Although Apple does not usually give explanations about the reasons for removing applications from the App Store, its practice is fulminating against possible copyright violations. Although emulators are legal, if original games are downloaded for use without permission from Nintendo, their owner, an illegality can also be committed.
