FingerGaming

IUGO’s microgame compilation A.D.D. made an unusual debut in the App Store several months ago. Released only as a free Lite demo — with no paid version available for purchase — A.D.D. was nevertheless a memorable experience, successfully combining a juvenile sense of humor with quick-draw gameplay scenarios inspired by Nintendo’s Wario Ware series.

In an announcement yesterday, A.D.D.’s developers revealed the reasoning behind the unusual release strategy — and it wasn’t intentional. Both free and paid versions of A.D.D. were meant to launch at the same time, but for unspecified reasons, Apple approved the Lite edition and held back the paid version.

This isn’t unusual, as many apps have seen delays and rejections due to unexpected violations of Apple’s standards for content. What makes this story noteworthy is that A.D.D. Lite launched nearly three months ago. To this day, the full version of A.D.D. remains stalled in Apple’s approval process.

Worse, IUGO has received no word from Apple regarding the cause of this delay. Most apps, when they are found to contain objectionable content, quickly receive a rejection notice from Apple. IUGO has received neither positive nor negative feedback from Apple in the three months since it first submitted A.D.D. for review.

“We’ve received 3 identical emails from Apple stating the game is taking an unusually long time to review and that they apologize,” said IUGO Director of Business Development Sarah Thomson. “That’s all we know. It seems the game is neither rejected nor has it been approved. Sure we’re frustrated and wish we’d hear either way. If the content is too hot then we’re happy to go back in and re-work it.”

Given that the free version of A.D.D. is promoting a product that does not and may not ever exist, IUGO has decided to pull A.D.D. Lite from the App Store. IUGO has no plans to reissue the demo should the full version ever be approved for sale.

Tags: a.d.d., Apple, IUGO, rejected, Removed Game