Sure, but just because you can use an app to play pirated ROMs doesn't mean that app should be banned. You can use the Kindle app to read pirated books. The VLC app can be used to watch pirated movies. AutoCAD app can be used to view pirated designs.Lucky you to own the games you want.
Not eveyone has that ability and kids today know they can just download old ROMs...
They dont like buying things. Not hold in your hand items. All subscriptions. Probably why vinyl had a resurgence - the joy of holding physical product you own rather than the sound quality which isnt always great on lofi record players...
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The emulators exclusive use is to enable you to use illegal content the others have other uses
Isn’t the issue with emulators that they run arbitrary code? Apple‘s solution would be for each individual ROM to be submitted to the App Store for approval.
They have actually approved apps like this but they also need to prove you have the copyright holders approval which 99% of people do not
You've never heard of homebrew code, have you?
The sole purpose of emulators is to replicate another device in software.
What you do with the emulator is up to you.
Which is why we can conclude that arguing the exclusive use of emulators is to "enable you to use illegal content" is dangerously wrong. First of all, because if you already have the game, running it under an emulator is not considered illegal. That's like arguing that cars are illegal because some people hit and run others with their cars, therefore the sole purpose of having a car could only be hitting and running over people.
Second, because emulators themselves have already been judged legal in courts, and they help with history preservation. FPGA consoles (hardware replicas of old consoles) could only be created because the way old consoles work has been widely documented with emulation.
True, but what percentage of emulator users actually run home-brew code? I suspect it is very small.
Also true, but Apple probably doesn't want to get into a fight with game developers and copyright owners when they want them to develop games for their platforms. Letting emulators in would diminish teh potential market for paid versions of the games.
But how many people actually own the arcade game, vs say a cartridge version, but still run the arcade game?
The same argument is made for guns.
As a fan of arcade games, I am glad emulators exist and keep them alive. I would like Midday, Sega, et.al. to release the games for more modern devices, such as Apple TV and the Mac, just as they used to for the PC and consoles.
Because the percentage of people who run emulators is very small to begin with. Many of them either prefer modern games, or feel intimidated to run emulators.
We're talking about Average Joe here – the guy who has trouble understanding software.
Except it wouldn't. Many franchises are alive BECAUSE fans have been running old games in emulation and making fan games.
The biggest example is Sonic the Hedgehog. Fans go as far as to buy multiple copies of the game (Sonic 1 for the Genesis) in multiple platforms because they love it so much. Some of those copies run on emulators.
It has to be one of the most ported games ever.
SEGA went as far as hiring fans to make Sonic Mania, and giving them a more proper budget to make an official game. Everyone loved it – so much it actually obfuscated one of the releases done by the official team, Sonic Forces.
Oh, and do you know Nintendo's Virtual Console service? How do you think they achieve that? Are the games individually ported?
Of course not. They use emulators to run those old games. And Nintendo's service is doing very well, thank you very much – even though you can actually play those games for free on your browser VERY easily.
Many, actually. See above. Fans will buy multiple versions of the game sometimes because they love comparing them.
This YouTube channel is specialized in comparing different versions of the same game in different platforms, and it is a hit:
Developers porting their games to multiple platforms is a reality, by the way, because it means they will have more opportunities to be seen.
I thought you would say that.But the comparison is not fair at all, because emulators don't have the potential to kill people en mass like guns do. In fact, emulators can save lives if the hardware is important, no one sells it, and you need to have it replicated. Think of a specialized medical device that stopped being sold.
It seems you're out of touch with the game industry. Because they do exactly that.
You CAN buy old games on your iPhone, where they are sold individually, or on Steam, where they are packaged in emulators that are disguised and have a simplified interface.
On the iPhone / iPad, some of the games that can be bought individually are:
* Golden Axe
* Sonic 1
* Sonic CD
* Kid Chameleon
* Streets of Rage
* Crazy Taxi
* Vector Man
* Chrono Trigger
seriously i bet you less than 1% of people on the board want to run homebrew code in the emulator and you know that
companies running emulation for games they licensed or created is totally different to you using it
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Here's a little secret for you: many of those companies actually use free emulators to get their old games working. They may use an open source version of the emulator legally or illegally for that. So one hand borrows from the other.
Given teh small market companies not letting emulators on their store has no impact on teh overall market.
Running software you own on an emulator is different than using an emulator for pirating games.
Nothing wrong with the IP owners using emulators, it’s a time proven way to run old codes on new machines. The OP was about emulators being available to run games you do not own, which has nothing to do with teh legality of emulActors. Given the desire to protect relationships with teh IP owners, who as you point out, can release teh games; it makes sense not to allow alternative ways to run teh games without paying the IP owners.
Still, the logic is the same. As for medical devices, an emulator would have to meet some stringent requirements to be used as a medical device. Whole different ballgame.
However, there are many classic arcade games that aren’t. Like I said, I wish teh IP owners would release copies that ran today using emulation.
As long as they comply with any license for teh code, they are free to run their games using it. Nothing is wrong with emulation, I have even used it in an engineering setting. The question is whether app stores should allow emulators; given they will support piracy, even if all users do not pirate games.
I'm not sure if I clearly understand your sentence, but I suppose you mean "not allowing small companies to run emulators on their store has no impact on the overall market".
Against that, I'll just argue that Google DOES allow emulators on its app store, and they're doing absolutely fine. And by the way, Microsoft's game streaming service is available on the Google Play Store too as a native app, whereas on the iPhone, you have to sign in in your browser, because Apple wanted to approve every game in the catalog and force Microsoft to release all of them as single apps – which is not viable.
Anti-monopoly laws are not getting stricter. In addition, the DOJ has consistently approved anti-consumer monopoly mergers because the government either doesn't have the desire to stop them (they are paid by corporations for making these decisions). Yes, some pro-consumer laws are introduced and even passed, but usually they are modified through lobbying to reduce their benefit to consumers.
Yes, the stagnation of minimum wages is the product of massive corporate lobbying over several decades! This is well documented. That's why inflation-adjusted minimum wage in the U.S. has declined 40% from 1970 to 2022. That's a huge reduction in working people's quality of life. Meanwhile, the CEO-to-worker pay ratio is 670:1.
In USA - like with the neutered right to repair law - yes.
In EU and now even India - no!
Eats shoots and leaves. Commas count. I should have written:
Given the small market, companies not letting emulators...
My point was emulators, as a small market, have little impact on App Store volume and thus banning them to avoid upsetting the IP owners makes economic sense.
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