Nup. I'm tipping it to come next week. That way they can get a patch out with any unexpected issues before the freeze - because games/apps don't get patches during that period either hey??
My bet is this one too: bring it next week, check forums for 2-3 days for unexpected serious bugs, release an expedited review patch prior to the 21st Dec.
Well i would want it to be launched next week, wouldnt that be cool i been waiting for this game on a phone before there was even an iphone
The 19th is the optimum release date this year. The week after is the week when people get their new idevices and gift cards and represents the peak period on the App Store all year long. Who wouldn't want to be on the "new and noteworthy" list, editors choice or any featured list at that time of year? Anything released on the 19th worthy of those lists will be on those highest profile lists for the holiday peak period. Anything released the week before that made those lists will be replaced the following week so the 19th makes the most sense. As for expedited updates, that will be a near impossible task for the week between 12th and 19th considering how much of a backlog of approval for new apps and updates that is already there. Everybody wants a peak position or something new for that week so that their profile is high so don't be expecting any expedited updates. Stuff that's already in the cue for updates will be lucky to make it and anything submitted after Friday most certainly won't. The best option for them is the 19th. It may not turn out that way as there is no statement that is the release date but its the date any dev with an aim of hitting a featured list would be certainly be aiming for. That week of lockdown at the peak sales period goes a long way to numbers when one is featured. As obviously this one will be.
Makes sense. I stand corrected. Anyway, as long as it comes before Christmas holidays, it's fine for me
Yeah true but this is Rockstar. They have some serious pull so perhaps they could get their update processed very quickly...
Surely only the App Store review process is paused from the 21st. So developers can submit apps before then and if they get approved before the 21st, it's their choice when to release it. It's just one click to release it after all. So it could get approved before the 21st yet Rockstar might choose to release it afterward.
I heard that the developers can't even make any price changes, so I doubt they can submit an App. But I don't know if it's true.
When iTunes connect shuts down for the holidays, everything associated with it shuts down as well. No new releases, no updates, no price changes, no reviews, no featured list changes. Nothing. While it may be an automated (esque) system, it still needs people at the back end and they won't be there. So while a dev can theoretically pick a date in that week, the system still needs people to process it at the Apple end and what would happen is with no people there, it would just go live on the first day the people came back. Anyway, as the V man said, it would be crazy to miss out those days and it would also rule them out of a featured spot if it were even possible. Not really. I think you have that the wrong way around. While Apple does do its absolute best to accommodate and help devs with potential problems and as Spidey said to Peter Griffin, everybody gets one, Apple still has procedures and regulations and they follow those procedures to the letter. It's what makes them so efficient. Special requests can be made and met if the situation requires it but they tend to be reserved for game breaking or nearly game breaking stuff and other unique scenarios. Even Gameloft and EA, which generate exponentially more revenue for Apple every year than Rockstar (which is itself very successful on the platform, it just has a smaller number of games) would have great difficulty to influence Apple in that way and tend to save them for make or break scenarios. Apple likes its procedures. They will of course do their best and accommodate if the situation requires it but it would need to be a particular circumstance. Anyway, iTunes connect is working at its maximum at this time of year. The week they are closed has to be sorted out and the releases and featured lists and so on for the week they come back has to have an enormous amount of the ground work done before they even leave in order to expedite the changes for that week. And its a lot of work with special lists on top of the normal stuff. Busy, busy little bee's. That's not to doubt whether the game will make it or not, there is no doubt at all but that it will be out in time. From their other releases, they've always needed an update or two but no real game breaking bugs and they've enough of testing done to rule anything serious out. Of course there is always some bugs that surface when its out in the wild but Rockstar tends not to rush updates that might possibly break the game further so they wouldn't really have the time between the 12th and the 19th to thoroughly test and approve any bug quenching updates anyway. Long and short of it is I'd personally like to have the game on my iPhone right now )) but if I was the one making the decision on the release date, the 19th would definitely be what I'd go with. That doesn't rule out the 12th, but it does make the most sense from an exposure and profile point of view, particularly when tied in to the peak selling period of the App Store.
Gta 3 and gta vice city were both featured. I think this will be featured no matter what. Plus it's rockstar haha.
I just pray they finally add cheats to the iOS version, especially this one. Simply for the Jetpack, or the fighter jet. That made the game endlessly fun!
