Apple gets serious on 4.7 guideline with retrospective reviews

In 2019, Apple stunned the gaming sector by updating its guidelines, banning side-loaded HTML5 games content in real money gaming apps. This move had significant ramifications for the sector and forced operators and game vendors to modify their content to be embedded into apps. This is a time consuming and complicated process and, as a result, the industry was given a deadline extension to ensure products were compliant with the new guidelines by 30 June 2020.

Over the last nine to 12 months, the industry has seen numerous apps being rejected by Apple due to 4.7 compliance issues. However, in a very rare development, the tech giant has now started to retrospectively review existing products in the App Store and has issued a number of operators with a rectification letter, meaning that the app will be removed from the App Store in 30 days if a compliant update is not submitted.

The reason for this is that part of the industry has looked to avoid implementing the new guidelines by not updating older versions of existing apps that are now no longer compliant. There are also a few instances where apps have been reviewed and approved by Apple, but non-compliant content has later been switched on in an attempt to skirt round the new guidelines.

Apple is now clearly going after companies who are not playing by the rules. In what is a watershed moment for the industry, it is sending a strong signal that operators can’t just park an app for ages without updating it to sidestep the review process and avoid adhering to the new guidelines, and this is something the whole iOS community needs to be aware of too.

There are a few reasons why parts of the gaming industry have flouted the 4.7 guideline and have failed to adjust their products despite being given ample time to do so. The first one is that there are still insufficient amounts of compliant casino content available as many game providers have not yet ported over to the required web bundles. We have also found that the integration paths to different providers are very fragmented. This means that the implementation for each game vendor is unique and generally quite onerous with a lot of customisations to get the games working in web bundles.

The final thing is that the games now ideally need to be distributed as an On-Demand Resource (ODR) – app content that is hosted with Apple rather than embedded in the app binary. There is a poor understanding of ODR in the iOS developer community (the documentation is not great either) and therefore, lack of content, lack of developer experience and a wait-and-see approach is why a lot of gaming organisations have avoided complying with Apple’s new requirements.

Landmark moment

Apple is now bringing the matter right to the surface again and is now forcing the hand of the industry. While some operators might be able to get their house in order within the 30 days that Apple has given them, most won’t. It takes a lot of recoding which requires a big team and a lot of resources. I believe a lot of operators will decide to remove their products from the App Store for a while as they work to resolve the issue and perhaps take stock. Some who realise the value of having an app will move mountains to ensure their products aren’t rejected from the store. Others will defer the update. Ultimately, the operators who choose to embrace the change are in an enviable position now to take advantage while their competitors regroup.

Apple now opting to review apps while they are active in the App Store, not just during the submission process, is a landmark development. This will force those operators who try and bypass the rules by having remotely configured apps (against Apple’s guidelines), to either alter their behaviour or lose their positioning on Apple devices.

In this heavily regulated industry, there is always going to be a point where compliance forces you to do an update. By this unexpected move to review apps retrospectively, Apple has now put their foot down and it is time for the industry to take implementation of the 4.7 guideline seriously.

Apple’s push to protect their users, by ensuring compliant and reliable apps, will force all developers and especially gaming operators, to improve and enhance game play and player experience. This can be delivered by web alone, but we see a huge demand by end users for apps and a greater RPU from their use.

Some operators will move away from the Apple App scene, but those who want to offer great value, customer retention and overall higher net gaming revenue will continue with an app strategy, of which the game suppliers will become a significant part now that they must make changes to their product to participate.