Apple iTunes games finally launched in SA

Apple is rolling out games for the South African iTunes App Store, a spokesperson for the company has told MyBroadband.

At the time of writing it appeared as though the roll-out was still underway, with the iTunes desktop app displaying the following error when attempting to access the App Store: “The item you’ve requested is not currently available in the South African Store.”

However, a tweet from a local game developer pointed to a listing for Angry Birds on the iTunes App Store for South Africa website.

Using the website to find the listing of a game and then clicking “View in iTunes” opens the application’s page in the iTunes desktop application.

Age classification of games in SA

This latest news on iOS games for South Africa emerges some months after the Film and Publications Board (FPB) said that it had proposed new regulations for online content distribution to the Department of Home Affairs.

The FPB indicated in May 2013 that these new regulations would have paved the way for Apple to launch the “games” category for the iTunes App Store in South Africa.

Requests for comment to the Film and Publications board earlier in October 2013 on the status of iOS games in South Africa were unanswered.

Apple declined to comment on what enabled them to finally roll out games to the South African App Store.