Delta Emulator comes to iOS in the US and is number one on the App Store
The release came right at the same time as an alt-store release in the EU
- Delta, the game emulator allowing you to play classic games via your phone, has hit 4.4m downloads
- This comes after a surprise release for iOS via the official App Store and the Alt-Store Pal
- Delta is now the #1 App in the entertainment category
Delta Game Emulator is out now for the iOS App Store, releasing April 17th, and has already surpassed 4.4m downloads in a little over a week. This dramatic popularity has sparked interest, and concern, about the future of the emulator on iOS now that Apple has changed the rules to allow these systems to arrive.
We reported on it last week, or at least Delta coming to iOS via the alternative Alt-Store PAL. However, we also got a tip-off about the game coming to the US App Store, and if there were any doubts about how popular it would be, this surge in downloads puts paid to that. The Delta Game Emulator now stands as #1 in the entertainment category for the iOS App Store.
But could there be trouble down the line for the Delta Emulator?
Nintendo's lawyers assemble?
By now you've probably seen the memes floating around featuring tooling-up action heroes captioned 'Nintendo's lawyers rn' underneath any story about the Delta emulator. And people are right to be wary, as Nintendo is famously litigious towards anything perceived as infringing on their copyright. After all, the company did get the coincidentally named Gary Bowser sent to jail for 14 months over charges of video game piracy.
Of course, Apple has covered itself, by putting the onus on emulator developers to ensure that all downloads offered within the app for their games are served legally. This could indeed ensure Apple doesn't face any potential litigation but that developers are left in a sticky situation, legally speaking.
But more than anything, the popularity of the Delta Game Emulator is perhaps the biggest, most visible evidence that emulation is a universally popular concept, except with companies. Will Delta keep operating? Will Nintendo or another company leverage their significant legal power? Or might we be seeing a paradigm shift that reveals emulators are not the realm of a small niche, but virtually all gamers.
