Concern for the loss of Game Center app with ios10's release

[daz258]

And because SC built a game that relies on GC to add friends and store our games safely, because Apple told them of these changes months ago and SC just rolled over and did nothing, they didn't stand up and say "Wait a moment, our revenue depends on GC", they just accepted what was going to happen and DIDN'T EVEN HAVE THE COURTESY TO WARN US, let alone implement something to prevent the problem we now have. That is why it is SC's problem!

Absolutely, extremely frustrating.

It's already lowering my enjoyment of the game.

No more Diamond purchases from me until it's fixed. Or a viable alternative presents.

I'm not going through Facebook. If I knew Facebook was the only way when I started, well I would never have started.

[LynnK2015]

And because SC built a game that relies on GC to add friends and store our games safely, because Apple told them of these changes months ago and SC just rolled over and did nothing, they didn't stand up and say "Wait a moment, our revenue depends on GC", they just accepted what was going to happen and DIDN'T EVEN HAVE THE COURTESY TO WARN US, let alone implement something to prevent the problem we now have. That is why it is SC's problem!

Indeed. But I will give Team Hay Day the benefit of the doubt that they first became aware of the loss of the GC in June when someone brought up the issue in the Reddit AMA.

I will give THD the benefit of the doubt that they investigated the issue and tried to find a working solution for months to mitigate loss of iOS players because they simply won't migrate to Facebook.

Now I won't give THD the benefit of the doubt because there hasn't been any news from THD assuaging our deep concerns except that the Community Manager will meet with the team to discuss the issue.

Um, what is the outcome of the meeting and what information may THD share with the public?

Sadly, it seems to me THD has adopted a wait-and-see approach and be reactive instead of proactive.

[PickleFr]

If I knew Facebook was the only way when I started, well I would never have started.

Well said Daz, exactly the same here. I do have a Hay Day FB account now but dislike it.

It is disappointing to me that I found out about IOS10 and all the changes it meant thanks to another player, not thanks to the Hay Day Team. Why so little communication and so little reaction...

[daz258]

Indeed. But I will give Team Hay Day the benefit of the doubt that they first became aware of the loss of the GC in June when someone brought up the issue in the Reddit AMA.

I will give THD the benefit of the doubt that they investigated the issue and tried to find a working solution for months to mitigate loss of iOS players because they simply won't migrate to Facebook.

Now I won't give THD the benefit of the doubt because there hasn't been any news from THD assuaging our deep concerns except that the Community Manager will meet with the team to discuss the issue.

Um, what is the outcome of the meeting and what information may THD share with the public?

Sadly, it seems to me THD has adopted a wait-and-see approach and be reactive instead of proactive.

Your more forgiving than most, but knowing since June? C'mon that is a solid 3 months; that is plenty of time for them to have made a proper add friend feature in game.

Instead they choose to ignore it and 'hope' that apple would come up with something sufficient.

For a company with multi million dollar games that is simply lazy.

The current GC & Facebook friend adding process it tedious & slow. A proper in game add feature would be much faster and not rely on others to get the job done.

Even if apple does come up with an alternative adding feature it will still never be as efficient as an in game add friend feature.

This is a failure by SuperCell. How much will it cost them? Depends how long Apple take to sort their sheet out I guess.

[SmallChange]

Nick knew in June when we asked about it in the AMA.

SC were told about it long before then by Apple! They were told they'd need to take over certain functions & develop things to do so.

We were told SC tech team were onto it.

Now, very unsurprisingly, we are being told to 'wait & see'


I think it's only a matter of time before either HD dies entirely or it becomes unplayable for me. I do not, & will not, do Facebook, not even a fake account.

SC's approach to this is beyond my comprehension.

[GladeMaid]

I completely agree, SmallChange. We have all read in this forum about the problems those with FB accounts have, FB is a social danger, not a a social benefit, and I also refuse to have anything to do with it.

Lynn - SC is a major game developer, there is no way that they would have learnt about this via a player in the AMA. Apple would have done a reveal to companies such as SC long before the AMA and it is seriously naive to believe otherwise. And for Nick to profess innocence is disingenuous IMHO. As Pickle says, and Besta has been saying for ages - SC does not communicate sufficiently with it's players. Perhaps they are hoping this will deal a death blow to HD and relieve them of a game in which they appear to completely have lost interest? Perhaps the "dumping" of so many products and crops in the last update was them clearing their desks in preparation for the end of HD? Who knows? SC certainly isn't talking!

[PeteParducci]

It is possible the changes to iOS caught Supercell by surprise and they only learned about it shortly before players did. Supercell may be a big deal to us but it wouldn't be surprising to find that Apple considers them not that special. Its not like they're in the same league. Supercell shows profits of around $900 million while Apple rings up more than $50 billion. Hay Day only accounts for a fraction of those profits so there's no reason for Apple to go out of its way to inform SC changes are coming. SC will undoubtedly try to work on the problem. If they're trying to negotiate with Apple it probably isn't a good idea to publish their strategy here.

[Bestajunior]

I completely agree, SmallChange. We have all read in this forum about the problems those with FB accounts have, FB is a social danger, not a a social benefit, and I also refuse to have anything to do with it.

Lynn - SC is a major game developer, there is no way that they would have learnt about this via a player in the AMA. Apple would have done a reveal to companies such as SC long before the AMA and it is seriously naive to believe otherwise. And for Nick to profess innocence is disingenuous IMHO. As Pickle says, and Besta has been saying for ages - SC does not communicate sufficiently with it's players. Perhaps they are hoping this will deal a death blow to HD and relieve them of a game in which they appear to completely have lost interest? Perhaps the "dumping" of so many products and crops in the last update was them clearing their desks in preparation for the end of HD? Who knows? SC certainly isn't talking!

"Clearing their desks" is exactly what it looks like. If HD was a boom boom, blow things up, shoot them from the sky, fire arrows, raiding (gasp) kind of game instead of our nice polite quiet farming game, then I think we would have had more notice and a solution would have been in place long ago.

Does this not affect CoC? Boom beach? Where is the outrage from those players? I guess I need a trip to the darkside of the forums.

[Blackbrit]

I'm adding my voice to all of you who are concerned about SuperCell's implementation of GameKit [?] and the other coding tool that were announced at the World Wide Developer conference in June. Apple provided those tools so that developers, in this case SuperCell, could manage aspects of their game play that Game Center would no longer handle. For us, the most obvious is the inability to add friends in the Game Center app since that interface was going to be removed by Apple. Apple seems to be removing this functionality in advance of the iOS 10 release, so surprisingly to me, removing it in iOS 9.

We most definitely need to hear from SC on this, and probably not just from Nick. These HD neighborhoods may be virtual, but between my NH and GC, they are real enough that we spend real money and have real friendships.

looking forward to hearing from more knowledgeable players --and SC!

[Haystacker]

It is possible the changes to iOS caught Supercell by surprise and they only learned about it shortly before players did. Supercell may be a big deal to us but it wouldn't be surprising to find that Apple considers them not that special. Its not like they're in the same league. Supercell shows profits of around $900 million while Apple rings up more than $50 billion. Hay Day only accounts for a fraction of those profits so there's no reason for Apple to go out of its way to inform SC changes are coming. SC will undoubtedly try to work on the problem. If they're trying to negotiate with Apple it probably isn't a good idea to publish their strategy here.

GC has been around since the original iPhone. We're talking close to 10 years of existence. U really think Apple didn't give the headsup to all their developers months in advance that it's going away and for them to make the necessary adjustments for life after GC? SC is no small guppy. CoC, BB, Clash Royale currently ranks top 10 in grossing in the App Store, HD #55. That's no small change, even for Apple's cut.

Let's face it, SC isn't exactly a company that plans ahead. iOS 10 is quickly approaching in a couple of days. SC should've been all over this by now and with clear cut answers to all our GC concerns.