Apple Relaxes Rules, Allowing First Emulator Apps on the App Store
Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) has relaxed its rules to now allow game emulators on the iPhone and iPad. Just a week after the policy change, the first such apps have already appeared on the App Store.
The two new emulators, Emu64 XL for Commodore 64 games and iGBA for Game Boy Advance and Game Boy Color titles, do not include any actual games. Instead, users must provide their own ROMs, or downloaded game files, to use with the emulators.
While Apple’s updated guidelines still prohibit copyright infringement, the appearance of these third-party emulators suggests the company is taking a more hands-off approach. Previous rules had banned such apps outright.
The iGBA emulator, in particular, is a re-branded version of the popular open-source GBA4iOS emulator. This indicates Apple is willing to allow a wider range of emulation software, rather than just first-party offerings from companies like Nintendo.
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