The worst thing that can happen to a game developer after so much hard work is to have his game rejected by a company that controls a huge pie of the market.
We're talking about Apple of course and its huge slice of the $30 billion mobile gaming business. Since iOS and the accompanying App Store do make a lot of money for Apple, it seems the company is also controlling it with a much heavier hand
Unlike the other content, Apple take on certain games can be quite confusing. Where it allows some games that manipulate players (and kids specifically) to pay out even more money on an app, culturally and educationally significant games like Endgame: Syria and HappyPlayTime don't make the cut.
The latest game to suffer with the App Store door smashing in its face is The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, produced and developed by Tyrone Rodriguez.
In this game, the player takes on the role of Isaac who has been trapped in the basement by his mother. The player must ensure the survival of Isaac as he attempts to escape the dungeon-like basement filled with monsters and his mother who are trying to take his life.
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is very much like the old Bible story of Abraham ordered to sacrifice his son, Isaac, to prove his faith. Despite the game's historical origin story, it's still very much a game drawn out like a stylized cartoon.
Apple's rejection of it, however, wouldn't be the first for the game. Nintendo rejected the game for its 3DS and Wii U platforms for "questionable religious content" but later backtracked and approved the game for sale.
Apple's reasoning this time around is that The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth "contains content or features that depict violence toward, or abuse of, children, which is not allowed on the App."
Rodriguez tweeted a screenshot of the notification he received from Apple after his game went through the App Store's review process. Unusually enough, however, Apple doesn't vet any of the the content in books or songs.
"If you want to criticize a religion, write a book. If you want to describe sex, write a book or a song, or create a medical App. It can get complicated, but we have decided to not allow certain kinds of content in the App Store," the company states on its guidelines for app developers.
