Panzer Corps Lite delisted from iOS app store

[rubyjuno]

+ 32bit apps just will not (can not) run on 64bit Apple hardware (almost any iOS device in the last 10 years or so). I agree the modern PCs have no issues emulating, Apple does not care.

Thanks for the answer. However, I bought an iPad 10th generation last year, and subsequently bought Panzer Corps Gold from the App Store (at full Apple store price). It may seem frivolous, but I only bought the iPad to play Panzer Corps on while I sat on the settee in an evening while my wife watched (insert rubbish here!) as being a 62 year old veteran of turn-based games, it was the only game I played really. Despite the will not (can not) above, I'm sure my iPad is 64 bit Apple hardware, and Panzer Corps runs fine on it, and still does. What is of great concern to me, especially as it's all I use my iPad for (and what I bought it for), is that my £450 plus outlay may turn out to be worth nothing if at some point I need to reinstall it and I'm unable to.

[Jkohan]

I totally agree. My 5th Gen iPad Pro died (battery) and it wasn’t worth the cost to replace it. My new iPad Air transferred everything over fine except my favorite game Panzer Lite. Is there any was I can reload it? Another great game was People’s General. I wish Slitherine would create some games for Apple.

[MozartTx]

It’s shame

I pay for full game with all dlc. Many many many hours spending with gameplay and now? I can’t download what I paid for. If company still exists they must can make support or refund. This is situation why i understand pirates on Android. Why pay for something what is only for some years and after that bye bye paying customers. I’m too old for this. This game make some nice times in my life. When I was in hospital, when I was sick and home in a bed. Etc etc. I remember for old time gameplaying not this sick business model. Pay pay pay may be you can play next year maybe not.

[Sephiroth]

Hi,

any update on this, it has been one and a half month?

[pipfromslitherine]

We're still trying to dig out some older devices under accounts that had the older games on. But most of them were recycled etc. It's possible we won't be able to find one.

There seems to be some ambiguous wording about developers stopping paying for an Apple Dev license and that meaning we cannot get any more payments (which is fine), but the wording could imply that it also shuts off downloading for existing customers of our products, which would clearly be appalling, but I wouldn't put it past Apple unfortunately.

But we are still trying to find out one way or another.

Cheers

Pip

[Abdurrahman1]

That’s too bad. Even if they put it back on my iPad Pro it still wouldn’t be worth it for me. With me buying the 16” M4 MBP and putting windows 11 on it it seems a little different here than on the iPad. I’m now starting to play PC2 now more than the PC Gold.

Good luck to you.

[Sephiroth]

About devices, as multiple users stated, me included, it works on all devices, both old and new, so I think that isn't the problem. If you stopped paying the dev licence, it ain't ambiguous at all, they cut you access to store.

IMG_0307.jpeg (216.82 KiB) Viewed 308 times

[jrregan]

Sadly, it has become clear (to me at least) that that is the case. The mention of the need to convert the PC to iPad version was a years' worth of manpower (and cost of course), was a limiter to future considerations. Can't argue with finances. I doubt it would be less than that for a 32-bit to 64-bit system change over to satisfy Apple's minimum system requirements.

I ask that honesty in the cost found be shown. Or at least the most reasonable high-level stance be show of income expected vs expenses required to achieve that income. Fiscal realities suck but have impacted my iPhone/iPad games in the past (e.g., Civ Revolution).

It is where it is so we can all give it a Queen's wave goodbye and Cheer's for the memories.

I still have it on my iPad and will manually update from now on to ensure it stays. Screened it up and it worked but didn't play it, so it appears to be functional.

[proline]

Unfortunately it is not as simple as us hosting it ourselves.

+ Apple doesn't allow sideloading in any real way. It's appstore or nothing.
+ 32bit apps just will not (can not) run on 64bit Apple hardware (almost any iOS device in the last 10 years or so). I agree the modern PCs have no issues emulating, Apple does not care.

Cheers

Pip

Pip, this is an incorrect claim. The problem has nothing to do with 32 bit- the iOS version of PzC is 64 bit and always had been! Works great on my M1 iPad Pro running iOS 26. Apple simply stopped offering it because it appears, from their point of view, to be abandonware (which it basically is).

What you are thinking of is that the macOS version of the game is 32 bit, which means it no longer works on modern Macs or Macs running the latest version of macOS. That's because the 3rd party porting house you hired to make the macOS version did a really bad job. Interestingly, the 64 bit iOS version does run on the latest Macs as they now have the ability to run iPad apps, but it isn't a great experience as the iPad version isn't optimized for Mac screen sizes. To say it again, because it is so ridiculous, the macOS version of PzC doesn't work on Macs, but the iOS version does.

With a couple days of effort, Slitherine could easily update the 64 bit iOS version to support multiple screen resolutions (right now it only plays at 1024x768) and release it for both Macs and iPads. You'd make your customers very happy. That should matter.

With regard to the "blame Apple" angle, Apple is not Microsoft and does not devote resources to making sure that DOS games from the 80s still work. Doing so diverts programming talent away from new features and risks introducing bugs into the OS that could cause security breaches. Even when they do have backward compatibility modes, such as Rosetta to run x86 code, the result is an app that runs slower and uses more battery life. That's not what Apple users want and therefore it's not what Apple wants. Fortunately, keeping your apps running is basically a matter of having a knowledgeable person recompile and fix any errors that pop up. Most of the time recompiling for the latests OS and CPU architecture is a one day job.

[proline]

About devices, as multiple users stated, me included, it works on all devices, both old and new, so I think that isn't the problem. If you stopped paying the dev licence, it ain't ambiguous at all, they cut you access to store.

This is the most likely culprit. See my post above.

[Abdurrahman1]

The problem that I had with my iPad Pro was that I deleted it a few times and than reinstalled it to get a clean version. I shouldn’t have done that at all. I had no problem it hit on the M4 iPad Pro running iPad OS 26.

I recently deleted Panzer Marshal from the iPad because there was a problem with it. That was only one time, now it’s gone and not even in my iPad library.


If you paid for it like Panzer Corps, it should be yours. Sorry Apple but I blame you. But, I’m stuck on your products.

[proline]

If you paid for it like Panzer Corps, it should be yours. Sorry Apple but I blame you. But, I’m stuck on your products.

It is yours, or rather it was yours, but Apple isn't going to give you another copy for free after you've deleted it if its from a developer that is no longer active in the App Store. You can restore from a backup on your Mac, if you made one.

While it would be very cool if you could buy software and have it work forever, reality is that many software products won't remain useable forever after the developer has gone under or stopped supporting their product. For example, many products rely on online servers that need to be paid for.

[Sephiroth]

The thing is that I didn't delete it, Apple did it, to make storage for update. It clearly says that all apps would be temporary removed and reinstalled after the update which is a lie.

[rubyjuno]

The thing is that I didn't delete it, Apple did it, to make storage for update. It clearly says that all apps would be temporary removed and reinstalled after the update which is a lie.

Never heard of that before... that's a bit underhand of them! I'll have to check my storage space before allowing future updates...

[Abdurrahman1]

That don’t make sense really. I have a terabyte on my iPad. Lots of room. Well, in my mind it’s gone from the iPad. My fault, I guess for deleting it. No looking back now.

[jrregan]

Mr. Moneybags with an Apple Logo as head. It's fiscal.

[Abdurrahman1]

I don’t understand what that means. I think it’s fiscal means a yearly thing? Also, are you talking about Apple being a person with the logo as a head? No desrespect intended to anyone.

[proline]

Mr. Moneybags with an Apple Logo as head. It's fiscal.

Yes, if Apple wasn't a for-profit business it could afford to serve you old games for free.

If Slitherine wasn't a for-profit business it could afford to pay the $99 developer fee to keep PzC in the App Store. Hell, they could afford to spend a day or two updating the iPadOS app to support multiple screen resolutions and to support the Mac. Or, they could open source the game and let the community fix it.

The bottom line matters for both companies. That's life.

[Abdurrahman1]

Ok I understand now. What you’re saying is that because Slitherine isn’t paying the developers fee that’s why it was taken off. Now I understand. I hope