Apple Promotes Games Sans In-App Purchases; Enforces 4+ Age Ratings: Reports

As reported by MacStories, the new section by Apple is called 'Pay Once & Play' which lists games without in-app purchases under different subheads, namely Recent Releases, Blockbuster Games, and App Store Originals. We were able to verify the existence of the section via iTunes client.

The new 'Pay Once & Play' section promoting games that will not ask users to purchase anything else inside the game can be seen as a move from Apple to counter all those complaints about freemium games, especially from the EU. Previously, the company had also changed the download label of these freemium games from "Free" to "Get".

As of now, the report notes that the new section is visible in the UK App Store and it's unclear whether this will also get featured for other regions or not.

For developers, the company has also started enforcing rule 3.6 of the App Store guidelines which requires app icons, screenshots and previews to meet '4+ age rating' standard from Apple.

"Apps with App icons, screenshots, and previews that do not adhere to the 4+ age rating will be rejected," notes App Store review guidelines.

According to Pocketgamer, the first app affected by the change was an action game Tempo. The Cupertino company had asked the developers to either modify the artwork to blur out any guns (see below) or the app gets rejected.

Similarly the company rejected Rooster Teeth vs. Zombiens game's original icon, because the hero was holding an NES Zapper gun. Later the developers replaced the gun with a baseball bat for approval, noted the report.