IOS Fragmentation - I need help with a decision

I have a decision to make that has been weighing on me for a few months, and I'd like to get people's opinion on how to approach this.



I have an open world wilderness game Nimian Legends BrightRidge on the apple App Store since August 2014:

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/nimian-legends-brightridge/id885657108?mt=8

Originally the game only worked on A6 device and up. At the time Apple didn't give devs a means to restrict downloads to specific devices. They only way I could prevent users with A5 devices from downloading the game was to put a warning in the description, which I did.

People with A5 devices still downloaded the game and were understandably upset when it crashed, leading to a string of 1 star reviews. Reviews for the game were basically either 5 stars from people with A6+ devices and 1 star from people with A5 devices.

So i worked hard to optimized the game - no easy feat considering it is a sizable open world area, and got it to work on A5 devices most of the time. But it still crashes sometimes unless you restart your device/close other apps. Hardly ideal.

So now I am creating a new update of the game that works on Metal devices - A7 and Up - and I have to make a decision.

If i just update the current game /binary, which has the benefit of a widely known and promoted URL, then it will continue to be available to A5 devices and that means more 1 star reviews. It also means i feel restricted adding new content to the game because i am trying to (largely unsuccessfully) accommodate older devices. It is kind of like trying to make an Xbox One game run on the original Xbox.

I can restrict the update to Metal devices only. This will likely mean better reviews as it will keep A5 and A6 users from downloading the game. But you cannot update a game to a version that wont be available on devices it previously was available on. Bottom line - a new metal version will have to be a new game and binary (BrightRidge HD?) and have a new URL that has no links to it. Also, people who have bought the game for 99cents or $1.99 would have to buy it again at this new URL because it is a new binary.

Option 1
What I was going to do is continue to update the current binary and just accept the 1 star reviews. It will likely work even worse on A5 devices because i am adding content to the game as well. But it will work on A6 as well s A7+ and have the benefit of an established URL ( https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/nimian-legends-brightridge/id885657108?mt=8 )

Option 2
But now i am thinking just bite the bullet and create a new Metal Only HD version at a new URL, lose the search engine and review links, but gain a more stable, richer game experience because only compatible devices could download it. But it will mean losing support for A6 devices (on which it currently DOES work well) and that people would have to buy it gain (mitigated perhaps by the fact that it's a more detailed version with new content). I would then make the current version on the App Store free but not update it again. This option is closer to putting the game experience first - it will be a better game. Also, I know game devs are supposed to have a thick skin, but the 1 star reviews are somewhat nasty, and involve something I can do nothing to fix (they are based i crashing, not game experience), so they are demoralizing. I am a solo game developer working in my spare time, and I have limited time, budget and energy.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

Yes you can. I updated a game recently that originally ran on iPod 2nd generation devices, now it requires iOS 6 and therefore iPod touch 4th generation. The only requirement is that it still run on devices that support the latest OS.

--Eric

 

Thanks Eric. I looked into that. You can require a newer version of IOS as a workaround to restrict it to certain devices. But you apparently cant add a feature flag - like requiring Metal - if it didn't before. From what I understand the two are different.

There's a bit more about it here.

https://developer.apple.com/library...tibilityMatrix/DeviceCompatibilityMatrix.html

"Important: All device requirement changes must be made when you submit an update to your binary. You are permitted only to expand your device requirements. Submitting an update to your binary to restrict your device requirements is not permitted. You are unable to restrict device requirements because this action will keep customers who have previously downloaded your app from running new updates."

Apple will archive versions that run on older IOS versions and offer that to the player. But if I were to update the current binary to Metal only, then even if you downloaded the original on and A5 device and IOS 7, you would not be able to install this update even if you still had IOS 7 because Metal won't work on A5. Since it's for the same IOS version you are effectively restricted from updating the game, unlike when you restrict it just to a new version of IOS, in which case you could still POTENTIALLY update the game if you update your version of IOS.

Currently there's no version of IOS that is not supported on A5 devices, so the only route i have to keep A5 players from downloading the game is to restrict it to Metal (which unfortunately will restrict A6 users too).

Anyways I will look more into it. Apparently devs can ask Apple 1 question or something, so i think I will make my question this one and ask it once i hear a few more pinions. I would still like to know what people think of both the options i presented.

I really appreciate your fast feedback Eric. I am pretty confused about this and any help i can get is, well, helpful

 

well i had a discussion about it on BrightRidge's Touch Arcade thread http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=237171&page=70 and i am pretty sure I will go with option 2. I need to make the game as good as possible, and trying to support the legacy devices is holding me back. I'll likely make the current version free and have teh new BrightRidge HD available on 64 bit devices.

 

That sounds reasonable.

--Eric