2 Months of Identical Copy-Paste Rejections for a Game Emulator — No Human Review, No Meaningful Feedback

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Hello, I'm the developer of RPGPlayer, a game emulator for RPG Maker games that has been live on the App Store since 2025. I'm writing here out of frustration and desperation after 2+ months of trying to publish a critical bug fix update. The Situation I submitted v2.4 on February 21, 2026. Since then, I have received 9+ rejections under Guidelines 4.7 and 2.5.2. Every single rejection message is word-for-word identical — the same copy-pasted text, every time. None of my detailed technical responses have ever been acknowledged or addressed. I have submitted appeals twice through the App Review Board. Both times I received the same automated response: "The App Review Board will contact you directly once they've completed their investigation." The first appeal went unanswered for over 30 days. At this point, I genuinely do not believe a human being has opened my app during any of these reviews. The Technical Reality RPGPlayer is a game emulator, explicitly permitted under Guideline 4.7. The rejection under 4.7 states that "HTML5-based games appear to be an incidental feature." This is incorrect. RPG Maker MV/MZ games are built on HTML5/JavaScript by design — that is the engine's native architecture on all platforms including PC and consoles. The WKWebView is the emulation layer, not a web browser or game portal. There are zero bundled games. The rejection under 2.5.2 states the app "installed or launched executable code." The app does not download anything from the internet. It includes a bundled, statically-linked runtime (MKXP-Z) that interprets local game scripts from user-imported files — identical to how Delta Emulator interprets ROM instructions. The Double Standard Other apps on the App Store use the exact same architecture as RPGPlayer:

Delta Emulator — approved under Guideline 4.7, interprets user-provided ROM files Quest Play — RPG Maker MV/MZ player, uses the same WebView approach, currently receiving updates ArkRPG — same engine, same architecture, also on the App Store and getting updates.

These apps are approved and actively updated. RPGPlayer is being rejected with automated messages for doing the exact same thing. What I've Tried

Detailed technical responses in Resolution Center — ignored Two App Review Board appeals — no meaningful response Contact Us support requests — automated replies Provided ROM files, video walkthroughs, and thorough App Review Notes — none of it acknowledged

The Impact My users have been waiting 50+ days for a critical bug fix. Some have left negative reviews calling me a scammer because they think I abandoned the app. I haven't. I've been fighting this review process every single day. I have a Meet with Apple appointment scheduled. But I wanted to share this here as well — both to ask if anyone has faced a similar situation with emulator apps, and to document what is happening in case it helps other developers. Has anyone successfully resolved a 4.7 + 2.5.2 rejection for a legitimate emulator app? Any advice is welcome.

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Answer 1

App Review OP

Apple

8h

Thank you for your post and appeal. We're investigating and will contact you in App Store Connect to provide further assistance. If you continue to experience issues during review, please contact us.

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Answer 2

Tomato OP

2h

I can see your frustration except that

I have received 9+ rejections

I have never had a single software title rejected that many times although I have had about 300 titles listed at App Store and Mac App Store in the past 15 years + 1.5 months.

Detailed technical responses in Resolution Center — ignored Two App Review Board appeals — no meaningful response Contact Us support requests — automated replies Provided ROM files, video walkthroughs, and thorough App Review Notes — none of it acknowledged

Reading your topic, I have a hard time understanding who is doing what to whom. An English sentence strictly requires the subject. Omitting it makes it an imperative form for making a command to get somebody to do something. If that's how you respond to your reviewers, you are also responsible for causing repeated rounds of rejection.

Every single rejection message is word-for-word identical — the same copy-pasted text, every time. None of my detailed technical responses have ever been acknowledged or addressed.

What do you expect? You only pay a $99 membership fee. You could get a more meaning response if you paid $999. But not many people would sign up with that high fee.

You should not get them into your head. I have abandoned at least one software title after rejection. There may be another one or two. You should draw a line as to whether to continue for just a single software title or find a better meaning for your life. I almost went crazy 15 years ago and quit and switch to Windows but decided to come back one year later.

You may want to look around and read other topics. They frequently mention something about directly addressing an issue to a reviewer on a weekly basis, which never existed 15 years ago.

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