This doesn't happen every day. Yesterday, a fake game titled 'Minecraft Pocket Edition 2' was removed from the Apple App Store. This actually happens a lot more than you think, especially with app stores without any approval process (like the Google Play Store). Why is this so different, you may ask? It reached the top 10 best-selling games on the App Store before it was removed.
The game costed $10.99 while it was live, and obviously used fake reviewers and thousands of fake downloads to push itself up the charts until it started fooling real people. From there it skyrocketed, despite being populated with one-star reviews.
Mojang seemed to notice the app before Apple did. "It's great that Minecraft has inspired people to create amazing things, but when a product attempts to dupe our community or exploit their enthusiasm for the game, it's our responsibility to step in," Mojang's Owen Hill was quoted as saying.
The game's developer was listed as 'Scott Cawthon', who in actuality is the developer of the popular Five Nights At Freddy's games. Once inside the game, the creator is listed as 'Viktor Todorov', who may be the owner of this YouTube channel.
It's unknown at this time if Apple will return the $10.99 to anyone who bought the game while it was live. Either way, Apple really messed up allowing this into the App Store.
Source: Eurogamer
The game costed $10.99 while it was live, and obviously used fake reviewers and thousands of fake downloads to push itself up the charts until it started fooling real people. From there it skyrocketed, despite being populated with one-star reviews.
Mojang seemed to notice the app before Apple did. "It's great that Minecraft has inspired people to create amazing things, but when a product attempts to dupe our community or exploit their enthusiasm for the game, it's our responsibility to step in," Mojang's Owen Hill was quoted as saying.
The game's developer was listed as 'Scott Cawthon', who in actuality is the developer of the popular Five Nights At Freddy's games. Once inside the game, the creator is listed as 'Viktor Todorov', who may be the owner of this YouTube channel.
It's unknown at this time if Apple will return the $10.99 to anyone who bought the game while it was live. Either way, Apple really messed up allowing this into the App Store.
Source: Eurogamer