While none of the major AAA games to be released on the iOS App Store have garnered high sales numbers, there is a small group of enthusiasts who did actively buy and play these titles. Last week, it emerged that a new update to Capcom’s iOS titles would mean that an internet connection would be required to start playing the game, months after launch. Now, iOS gamers are warning each other to not update the apps.
While this news first broke last month, it was only over the weekend that discussion about this issue really kicked off. The r/iosgaming subreddit is up in arms over the patch, which adds a new online-check system before you can open up the game, seemingly in an effort to avoid piracy. The issue is, this does more to punish legitimate buyers of the games than it hurts the pirates.
Commenters on the thread are asking for refunds and are already worried about the upcoming release of Resident Evil 2 Remake on iOS. Titles like Resident Evil 7, Resident Evil 4 (2023) and Resident Evil Village all landed on iOS last year and have suffered low sales. Fans are pointing out that something like this may deter future buyers, rather than bring a boost.
This isn’t the first time Capcom has landed in hot water with fans over use of DRM. Resident Evil Village in particular launched on PC with two forms of DRM running at once, which caused a number of performance issues that had to be ironed out through patches.
KitGuru Says: How do you feel about this change from Capcom? Do you think Apple should approve refunds for those that purchased the full games?