Apple and Google reportedly rejecting ‘Flappy Bird’ clones
Developers are complaining that games containing the word "flappy" in titles are being rejected from Google and Apple app stores.
Apple and Google are reportedly rejecting new games and apps that have the word ‘Flappy’ in them. The “Flappy Bird” clones started appearing once the game developer Dong Nguyen removed the addictive game from the app stores.
Dong Nguyen, the app’s creator, removed the popular game from app stores on February 9, stating that he was overwhelmed by the addictive game’s popularity. His other tweets suggested that he was growing frustrated with the unwanted media attention and controversies surrounding the game, especially the allegations that Flappy Bird was copied from several other popular games including Super Mario.
Game designer Ken Carpenter, from studio Mind Juice Media, tweeted that Apple rejected his “Flappy Dragon” game from the App Store because Apple “found your app name attempts to leverage a popular app.”
Apple stated that the game was in violation of the following section of the App Store Review Guidelines:
Reasons:
22.2: Apps that contain false, fraudulent or misleading representations will be rejected
22.2
We found that your app, and/or its metadata, contains content that could be misleading to users, which is not in compliance with the App Store Review Guidelines.
We found your app name attempts to leverage a popular app.
After Carpenter’s tweet, other game designers also complained about their apps being rejected for containing the word ‘Flappy.’ Carpenter said that the rejection of his app was odd because there are plenty of Flappy clones on the App Store, including “Flappy Bee,” “Flappy Super Hero,” “Flappy Plane,” and even a “Flappy Bird Flyer.” Carpenter says that his app was rejected not only by the Apple store but also by Google Play, even after he added it again under a different name.
This may be because of the in-flux of Flappy Bird clones flooding the two app stores. Recently a fake Flappy Bird app was spotted on Google’s Android Play store that tricks users into sending premium messages and increases their mobile bills.
Source: Techcrunch