I was getting a 7 business day turn-around the last time I submitted updates. I actually found something I'd like to change with the vipValet Lite update, but I'm afraid of restarting the whole process.
Yep, loks like they weren't... I just received the "Section 3.3.12" email, saying that Ragdoll Killa! has been rejected due to objectionable material. Pretty depressing news... Still working out what to do next, since removing the COMICAL violence essentially destroys the app... Hoping I didn't pour all that development time down the drain. Eff.
That's weird.. I thought with Parental Controls, they'd start letting things like that through. Sorry to hear that BoiledGoose :/
Well, considering it isn't any more or less violent than Mr. Smith, the closest similar App Store title, I'm kind of stunned it didn't make it through. And yeah - what's going on with Parental Controls? I thought the same thing. They can rate it whatever they want. But don't reject it!
What rating did it come up with when you submitted and checked all the boxes for the different objectionable content items?
It was 9+, based on me checking: Cartoon or Fantasy Violence - Frequent/Intense Realistic Violent - Infrequent/Mild And "None" for the rest of the check boxes. If I could simply assign a 17+ rating, I would prefer to do that, but the email I received didn't mention anything about changing the rating as an option, so it looks like the reviewer must have felt it contains "Prolonged graphic or sadistic realistic violence." I'm assuming that because even if you you check Mild for that check box, it gives you a message "This content will not be sold via iTunes." (And obviously I didn't check that). But what constitutes sadistic realistic violence? I intentionally kept a cartoon look, feel and voice, and honestly, dropping an Anvil on a character's head is closer to Looney Tunes than Silent Hill. I was only given the option to "make the necessary changes so that Ragdoll Killa! does not violate the iPhone SDK Agreement." But what exactly that means in anyone's guess. Also, I submitted under Entertainment, but I don't know if that makes a difference.
I don't have much experience with this (our content is pretty kid friendly ) but next thing I would try is changing some of the other options just to artificially bump up the age rating, without it being excluded from the store, and resubmit. And cross your fingers you get a more lenient reviewer... Certainly at this stage I wouldn't change the game as, like you said, it would be to its detriment.
I have a very important news for this thread. My Aracade Pool Online waited about 9 day for approval when i submitted it first time. But after that i submitted update, which is now in review about 17 days. Normal. Here is the most interesting thing. Pool in online game, i have date/time of each login in DB. And after first submit, and also after update game was tested 3 days after i send them!! After that (in first submit) game was not tested anymore, just waited another 7 days, and was released without any further tests. Game is ONLINE - and they tested in only on SINGLE IPHONE for about 2-3 minutes!!! Now few words about update. Update was tested about 3 days after submit, they tested it more carefully on 3 iphones! But it was 2 weeks ago, and today game is still in review! So big number of updates/new apps is not a problem for them! They just delays review time without any reason!
I must laugh, but there must be a reasonable reason Mine is a new game and 15 days waiting after a minor reject.
From my guess it's proably a tiered scheme, if your app/game is innocuous enough it gets through first pass and gets green lighted proably within 7-8 days. If it has adult content or themes (violence, sex, nudity) or infringment (overlaps with existing Apple app) or technical issues (voilation of SDK, etc..) it goes through a 2nd pass which can proably again take 7-8 days or more. That would explain the conistent times between the various peoples.
Nope. Both of my recent updates for my two puzzle games took 3+ weeks to approve, where they used to take 7 days max. They have the lowest parental rating, so the content really isn't a factor.
Clearly Apple can afford to train some more employees on how to approve games with their $30 billion in cash. I know there's a rush with 3.0 updates, but this is starting to get ridiculous.
I think the review team is just crushed with new app updates. Everyone is likely submitting updates so their apps will show up as "3.0 Tested". We've been waiting about 2.5 weeks for our updates. Still waiting.
