Yeah I believe I explained that already (read the part about Hosts). Steam is the same way & can do the exact same thing that Apple is doing, but just because they are being hosted on their service/site doesn’t mean they can affect their entire game.
Example:
I own a Hosting site, you want on it. I let you on it, you make a lot of money & I get a share. Your game is all about Shooting. I, the owner of the hosting site says “Take guns out or get off my site” .
You don’t have to listen to me, but of course I will kick you off.
Problem though: You leave, so does all the customers that you generated once you find a better Host. I take a big loss in the process.
I was initially kind of miffed about the lack of codes, but as the numerous suggestions in this topic made me realize, there are a variety of ways to dole out special and/or time-limited content that are more exciting than sharing a 10 digit code. I will miss “Stop posting the code to 001” freakouts, the joys of delivering codes to guildmates, obfuscating them into puzzling statements, and opinions and conspiracies about the code-givers themselves, but that’s about it. Hopefully we can find a better way to get newbies their maps and gold.
They still get some % from gow sellings you know. That’s why they agree to be a host, don’t they. So it’s not in their interest to have people get stuff free if they could have bought them.
They could request pretty much anything you know. . Bone dragon to be colored pink for example. It’s up to devs how much compromise they are ready to do to accommodate their demands. Devs are in the bad sitation because they can’t make any demands.
I don’t think they’re likely to do that. I think we’re forgetting the possible reason behind the decision.
So basically Apple bans (and apparently has for a while?) the use of codes, likely for the reasons @Sirrian suggests. Which does makes sense, Apple does want some kind of benefit from having apps on the store, so preventing developers from providing codes for stuff ingame that bypasses the store means that Apple still get’s their cut/ROI for hosting the game.
They’re not just “hosting”. They’re distributing the game. Publishers and distributors in video gaming have ALWAYS exerted some level of influence on developers. This is a practice that dates back to the beginning of electronic gaming.
Okay - there may be no cause for panic… we’re just investigating setting up a web page for in-game promotional codes, where you supply your INVITE CODE + the PROMOTIONAL CODE, and it sends you a present via in-game mail.
It’s easy enough to set up… just need to find out if we’re gonna get in trouble for that before we commit to it!
It would mean that codes are offline for a week, while we do it… and a little more effort to go to a webpage to type in codes, but it may dance around the issue nicely. We’ll see.
Looking at the link @Studs posted earlier, I feel it should technically work? since it states “Apps may not use their own mechanisms to unlock content or functionality, such as license keys” and a web page would not technically be a mechanism of the app itself (like the redeem code button is). I’m not versed in any kind of legalese though.
If this does work it is a brilliant work around, kudos to whoever came up with it!
?
