[game_preservation] iPhone Game Preservation

[Mike Melanson]

Rachel "Sheepy" Donahue wrote:

> 

>> Sure, there's the question of whether most of these iPhone games are 

>> worth preserving in the first place.

>>

> 

> 

> I think that right there is what gives us a -little- bit of time before 

> we start worrying about iPhone apps. Not that there aren't some that are 

> or will be worth preserving -- but if a game has "died" so early in the 

> platform's life, it probably isn't one of them. It's difficult to accept 


I haven't investigated the reasons behind any of the disappearances I 
have found so far. However, given that A) it doesn't cost a developer 
anything to keep an app in the store after it has initially launched; B) 
it doesn't cost Apple incrementally to keep an app listed even if no 
one's buying; and C) Apple doesn't mind pumping up its App Store numbers 
however possible, it seems unlikely that the games in question died due 
to lack of popularity. Perhaps they were found to be using undocumented 
APIs and banned, or perhaps they had controversial content which got 
them banned. The latter case naturally makes for an interesting 
preservation story.

-- 
     -Mike Melanson