Tapjoy launching app marketplace

What do you do when Apple starts rejecting apps that feature your “offer walls,” which reward the installation of certain apps with in-game currency? If you’re Tapjoy, you take your ball, go home, and start up your own darned App Store.

Back in April, Apple started rejecting titles from developers that employed such tactics to promote other apps. Tapjoy voluntarily began limiting the number of installations that a single app could provide. However, starting today Tapjoy is going to have its own web-based app marketplace. This means that users will be able to use this new store in order to directly purchase new Tapjoy games, as well as gain virtual currency for the various titles they’ve already got.

Of course, Tapjoy is quick to explain that this isn’t a response to Apple’s policy changes from earlier this year.

According to a Tapjoy spokesperson that was contacted by VentureBeat, “It is not [a way to circumvent Apple]. In fact, the wheels for this were put in motion long before Apple ever changed their policies. Tapjoy realized in order to get really big, we needed direct relationships with consumers.”

Customers who want to will be able to connect their accounts to this new store and start earning virtual currency in games they’re already using. Meanwhile, the official company website is set to become a new customer portal that will allow access the web app.

Mike Thompson

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Mike Thompson has worked each side of the video game industry, both reporting on and creating narrative content for games. In his free time, he gorges on pizza, referees for roller derby, and uploads ridiculous cat photos to the internet.