My game "Christmas Candy Crash" rejected on iOS

jdbc

I think the process of Apple to accept or reject is fully arbitrary, so this app have been rejected sure for similar name with Candy Crush game. This is the power of big enterprises over indie developers, so my game has Christmas Candies and they crashes, must I change the name of my game for this... I do not think so, but Apple have rejected the app for this reason:

2.11: Apps that duplicate apps already in the App Store may be rejected, particularly if there are many of them, such as fart, burp, flashlight, and Kama Sutra apps

Anyway I am thinking to provide only Android apps for this iOS arbitrary reason to accept apps. Anyone with same issue with this approval process?

ar2rsawseen

yes I think guava7 had similar problem with whack-a-zombie like game and I think they rebranded it?

jdbc

I have answered to Apple, but for sure I will change the name ...

phongtt

Last year my game "Whack-a-Zombie" was rejected with the reason that it resembles "Whac-A-Mole" which is a trademark of Mattel.

I changed the name to "Whack the Zombie" and it was OK.

Googling "iTunes whack a zombie" you'll see many games. So I still don't understand why. Maybe it depends on the reviewer

jdbc

Last year my game "Whack-a-Zombie" was rejected with the reason that it resembles "Whac-A-Mole" which is a trademark of Mattel.

I changed the name to "Whack the Zombie" and it was OK.

Googling "iTunes whack a zombie" you'll see many games. So I still don't understand why. Maybe it depends on the reviewer

But this is a stupid reason for reject apps, so similar app names are a lot in Apple Store. I agree revision for quality and other things, but it does not sense for similarity with some app name.

I really think it is a reviewer issue (they have the power, I do not like this).

phongtt

I guess you already request an appeal review request?

https://developer.apple.com/support/appstore/app-review/
"The App Review Board provides the opportunity to appeal the rejection of an app if you believe that the functionality or technical implementation was misunderstood."

phongtt

Btw, how did they do that??? See the game name, which "hijacking" many famous game names

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/candy-heroes-lost-shave-backflip/id753171884?l=fr&mt=8

jdbc

Btw, how did they do that??? See the game name, which "hijacking" many famous game names

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/candy-heroes-lost-shave-backflip/id753171884?l=fr&mt=8

The question is "how this game have been accepted?" and mine not!!!

hgvyas123

wow what a name "Candy Heroes :Lost shave backflip frozen clumsy bubble farm jewel monster diamond jelly juice island glutton splash blast doodle pet cubes bitstrips crush boom epic witch pengle planet dash mania age jump free saga vine santa madness fall ninja christmas"

really this is a reviewer issue some might be too much lazy even they dont even see the name of the game let's see how much time this game is surviving on appstore

hgvyas123

between we even can not enter this much of keywords and name is acceptable huhhhh

hgvyas123

also this game has very good ranking in all stores obviously b'coz of the great spamming

thanhquan1512

My game was rejected also, all my plans are broken. Maybe holiday is coming and they tired of reviewing apps )

@phongtt: nice discovery, all their games have ridiculous name, how could they do that?

jdbc

Finally I have resubmitted with the name "Xmas Candy and Gifts".

I will cross fingers..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Mk1LUZxCcBg

jdbc

My game was rejected also, all my plans are broken. Maybe holiday is coming and they tired of reviewing apps )

@phongtt: nice discovery, all their games have ridiculous name, how could they do that?

Yap, many apps based on Christmas sure and the review process is too slow.

This is the reason I prefer Android. Apple has only 1 app store and control the publishing process, one ring to control all of them and go beyond darkness :-)

ArtLeeApps

I guess these are out too:
- Pissed off Parrots
- Snakes and Escalators
- World of Warships
- Karate Kid Vs Fruit Man

:-))

jdbc

Again my renamed "Xmas Candy and Gifts" has been rejected from Apple store.

It seems you can not submit a match-3 game with candies and gifts:

2.11: Apps that duplicate apps already in the App Store may be rejected, particularly if there are many of them, such as fart, burp, flashlight, and Kama Sutra apps.

Of course this is a match-3 game but I think game ideas and gameplay do not belong to Apple or big game companies. Are the word "Candy" and match-3 gameplay belong to King company? The answer is not, match-3 games are really old.

What do you think? What about submit to Cydia due to stupid reasons of Apple store?

john26

It seems very unfair to me. Now that you've changed the name they should accept, unless there is any other reason they gave? As you say match 3 games long precede Candy Crush -- and no one owns Christmas!

Can you appeal?

jdbc

I have sent a comment asking how can I solve it, but I am still waiting.

I was planning to improve that game with new game modes, effects, I will try again in some weeks, may be Christmas are the reason.

I have found something similar:

http://www.mhgames.org/2013/07/madness-this-is-the-app-store/

New rules since Summer 2013 for game clones? If they are, these are not good news for Apple and developers. Developers will take new ways, may be out of Apple store (http://www.iosopendev.com/)

Anyway money of big companies talk!

phongtt

Hey, don't give up! Everything has a price

jdbc

Apple's answer:

Thank you for your response. The app contains similar UI and functionality as apps already on the App Store. Please let us know if you have any other questions and thank you for your cooperation.

Of course a match-3 game must have a similar UI and functionality, draw a board and enable to swap to cells when users tap on screen.

Make a game clone is not allowed for Apple from now.

ar2rsawseen

@jdbc it is actually worse then we thought:
https://pay.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/1vpa6l/i_cant_use_the_word_candy_in_my_game_nor_can/

jdbc

I will focus on Android in the future. Apple is going down for stupid decisions: it seems some common words are owned by big companies then.

About this:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2014/01/20/candy-crush-saga-has-trademarked-candy-and-apples-app-store-is-helping-enforce-it/

jdbc

More about this issue:
http://www.gamezebo.com/news/2014/01/20/king-has-trademarked-word-candy-and-youre-probably-infringing

This is the reason why my game has been rejected. Quick I will trademark the word 'game' or 'Christmas'

ArtLeeApps

That is totally ridiculous !
As you say @jdbc, that means anyone is open to trademarking any word that isnt trademarked. What about "Help" or "About" .. all games use them... totally gone too far.

"Xmas Candy and Gifts" will end up being called... "Common Festive event Sugary consumables as well as Free items given to other people."
unless Festive is trademarked too.....

:O

jdbc

Candy Crush Saga is a clone of Bejeweled 2 puzzle mode itself but with some monetization strategies inside. They have also used match-3 popularity to make millions of dolars, so it is normal people use a popular gameplay to increase their revenues. But King company wants all money..

I am going to avoid to install any King company app, there are a lot of more apps there to install.

ArtLeeApps

@jdbc agree. im not installing (or have installed King apps) .. thats just greed.

ar2rsawseen

Here is a point of view from Candy Crush:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/208943/Candy_Crush_maker_King_is_a_step_closer_to_trademarking_the_word_Candy.php

Not that I'm defending them, but thought it might interest someone.

And you can hang me if you want, but even if King.com are evil, it does not mean that many great game design lessons can't be learned from candy crush. So I'd suggest to try it out, for every game developer.

Just don't buy anything, if you don't want

phongtt

This topic is growing hot around the world indeed.

Another interesting read by a lawyer author: http://gamasutra.com/blogs/JasPurewal/20140121/209020/Lets_talk_sense_about_game_trademarks.php

jdbc

Here is a point of view from Candy Crush:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/208943/Candy_Crush_maker_King_is_a_step_closer_to_trademarking_the_word_Candy.php

Not that I'm defending them, but thought it might interest someone.

And you can hang me if you want, but even if King.com are evil, it does not mean that many great game design lessons can't be learned from candy crush. So I'd suggest to try it out, for every game developer.

Just don't buy anything, if you don't want

I agree you can learn a lot from Candy Crush about game design and monetization, even it is a addictive puzzle match-3 game, but they have earned a lot of money (millions of dolars) with it, it is enough.

So I think trademarking a common word as "candy" should not be allowed. I guess this trademarking will be deleted really soon, just common sense.

OZApps

@all, there were earlier instances when Monster, Dash etc were copyrighted. It is ridiculous that the world is dictated and affected by silly policies made in one corner of the world.

Paris Hilton copyrighted her "That's Hot" now that is ok as there are several other ways to express oneself. What if words like "the", "what" and other such words get copyrighted? for starters, other developers cannot use them in their game titles, maybe one day we would go back to the caveman and use "oooh", "aaah" "eeeh" sounds (if they are also not copyrighted by then)

Birds are not copyrighted and the term "Angry Birds" is used very frequently, like in Free Birds where the Indians make a mention on the Turkeys attacking the fort, "Those are some angry birds"

phongtt

Are there any differences between "copyright" and "trademark" ?