Apple Won’t Let You ‘Kill the Plumber’

If you own an Apple device and were as excited about trying the recently announced reverse-Mario mobile game Kill the Plumber as we were, I have some bad news: Apple has rejected the app on copyright grounds. Depending on how …

By
Share this
  • Share this on Facebook
  • Share this on Twitter

If you own an Apple device and were as excited about trying the recently announced reverse-Mario mobile game Kill the Plumber as we were, I have some bad news: Apple has rejected the app on copyright grounds.

Depending on how you look at it, this can either be seen as a victory or a loss. I suppose it’s nice that Apple is starting to toughen up on copyright violations (mobile markets are rife with them, after all), but then again, parody is protected under copyright law, and it seems like a case could be made for Kill The Plumber as a playable parody of sorts.

The skeptic in me also wonders how much this has to do with Nintendo moving into the mobile market soon, and actively looking to squash all imitators.

Lep’s World, I guess you’re on notice.

If you have an Android device, you’ll be pleased to know that there have been no such problems in getting the game onto Google Play (at least not yet). The game is still set for a July 23rd release on Android, and the developer promises that a bigger version is headed to Steam at some point after that.

You can read the developer’s full accounting of the rejection, his appeal, and why he’s done fighting in the Touch Arcade forums.

Jim Squires is the Editor-in-Chief of Gamezebo. Everything you see passes his eyes first, so we like to think of him as "the gatekeeper of cool stuff." He likes good games, great writing, and just can't say no to a hamburger. Also, he is not a bear.