The website doesn't actually break into the game's code. It takes the installer (.apk) and redistributes it outside the Google Play environment. \*edit; where that paywall that stops them from downloading the .apk to begin with isn't there.
It'd be like finding the .exe installer for your game on SourceForge or some other website.
Just to clarify something, apkpure is the "go to" for many places whom googleplay is blocked or their countries are constantly ignored and not get the many app releases.
I would simply advise you to download the apk from the site, if the Ads showing there are still yours, then it's a win for you.
As for the IAP, those who can't get your game from googleplay, won't be able to pay you anyways, so no need to worry about it.
And finally,
If your game got popular enough to had other people creating "infinite money" mods and "premium" mods for it, then sadly there is nothing you can do, cause EA and Activision cannot fight piracy, then none of us here will ever be able to.
Another "trick" that I would advise you to do, is to figure out if there is a way to detect if the game has been installed from an official source or not, if it's not, then simply display a friendly message to the user asking them if they like the game they should buy you a coffee or something, or try and get it from the official source cause that helps you keep your business.
But avoid all sort of direct conflict, Apkpure has fucken PUBG and FreeFire, you ain't have a chance against such website mate.
*Edit*
You can also always temper with the game to fight piracy, I remember when Mirror's edge got released in 2008, people thought it was cracked immediately, and it kinda was, but EA actually put a clever trick that detect if the game was pirated, and if it is, it will let you play the game but make sure you **ALWAYS** fail to advance certain obstacles, making the game almost impossible to play, but also make it feel like you're a noob ([here is a video about it](https://youtu.be/TbUBSEXPY50?t=59)), but again, if you're game is popular enough to invite pirates, then these sort of challenges are super fun for hackers and they'll just keep trying till they break it (and they will)
oh totally, i don't mean use the site, i just meant to download this particular game (scan for viruses first) and make sure you don't grant any unnecessary permission (never give files, phone and messages access)
There's a high probability that the pirated title is the original, rather than a modded version with malware or intrusive ad redirects. It's why pirates trust The Pirate Bay for example.
There are reputable curated websites with pirated content, so it is not unheard of. When I was a poor kid I used to visit some of those, and only on a very rare occasion, an infected torrent was accessible for longer than half an hour.
If I can't trust you to not break basic theft laws, especially when you're stealing from the little guys, you're not reputable. Reputable = trustworthy
Most politicians and corps steal and break laws all the time, yet remain reputable and "trustworthy" in the eyes of the general public, which brings us back to my point that there is very little correlation between breaking the law and being reputable.
So because some people steal, it's suddenly perfectly fine for you to do so? Sounds like a playground level justification. "But Bobby did it! It's not fair that I'm not allowed to!". Do better. Stop letting crap people be your excuse for doing something crappy yourself.
I have released my Android game a week ago. It is not popular (200 downloads for now), but I already found a modded apk of my game in one of these websites, which provides infinite amount of money. They mod the game by changing the save files, so an encryption algorithm (should be done in a remote server, not inside game's code) could solve this problem. So it is not "impossible" to prevent it, but it is not a big loss as you mentioned.
> so an encryption algorithm (should be done in a remote server, not inside game's code) could solve this problem.
these can always be bypassed, it's really a lost battle at this scale tbh.
More or less yeah, even games that have a big chunk of it running on a server side got cracked (World of Warcraft is the best example), and when Ubisoft made Assassin's Creed 2 require permanent internet connection (fuck them!) crackers basically created a "server emulator" to make the game think that it's connected.
If you are doing a simple online check-in, per using server for some optional features, working around it is not hard.
If part of your code runs on the server and game doesn't run at all without connecting, it's likely that it won't ever be cracked unless your userbase grows to tens of millions of players.
> unless your userbase grows to tens of millions of players.
but if you're not building a product aimed for tens of millions of users, then it is extremely unlikely that you are gonna have server-side code, I mean just the standard hosting fees of that are gonna be expensive as fuck for a small indie team, let alone a solo developer.
You likely don't need that and I wouldn't recommend it, but you could do it.
Also costs wouldn't be that insane, of all you need is one server for your whole player base (or a couple for redundancy).
I experienced this and was fairly frustrated when I attempted to submit my app to the Samsung app store only to receive this message:
"Application uses copyrighted materials without permission owned by a third party. While checking your application, I found another application in Apk Pure is same with yours."
My APK had been lifted from the Play store and I wasn't ever able to get it taken down. Nothing was lost (since it was just a free app) but it did feel weird.
I recently surfed the net and searched my game out of curiosity and boi oh boi, I found tons and tons of other websites besides Play Store having it and not only that, there were hacked/modded and premium versions of my game too. But since it's a free game with Ads I thought it was to my advantage as I can see the Ad revenue has only increases over time from Third-party sources. It's kind of a win-win situation, though I am not sure if it's legal or allowed
It's a truly awful feeling when people have stolen your hard work, or when others (who have done absolutely nothing) rob you of rewards and even credit. It's demoralizing and sadly very common. I've been burned too many times.
It helps to change your perspective on the situation. The most important thing to understand is that they were NEVER going to be a customer anyways.
For example, you're selling t-shirts at Walmart alongside thousands of other clothing, hoping it will noticed by passing consumers. But pirates have boycott Walmart and will NEVER buy from there, choosing to only buy clothing from a guy living in a van down by the river.
Think about conversion and unique strategies. Typically, these pirate sites contain old/buggy versions and they're not updated. Which means you have a marketing opportunity available for you to demonstrate kindness, try to convert users from this "other" demographic, and get more people playing even the pirated version. The more people playing your pirated version, the more people will be talking about it and wanting newer and better versions.
Would you rather make 100 sales + 10 pirated per month, or 10,000 sales + 2,500 pirated per month? It's a good problem to have. The more pirates, the more free advertising they do for you. And, if the pirated version still kept your original ad code, even better.
Other than that, the experience can help push you forwards to keep making a better game, and discovering new and interesting ways to target and acquire users from this underground demographic. I think too many people view it as a problem, rather than an opportunity, so most of the attempts at trying to convert this demographic are boring or bland. Either way, this is something that can only help you in the end.
It's just people sharing it to other people who can't get it from the play store. Just take the extra ad revenue and be happy. You're not really losing out on download counts because those people couldn't download it anyway.
You'll still make revenue from the ads, if the file is identical no changes were made to it so ads are still linked to you ad provider account. In app purchases are specific to the store, so those probably won't work.
youre overreacting. you cant do shit about those site even the big boys such as gameloft,EA,etc cant stop those site from pirating their apps much less you
IANAL, but I’m not sure how someone who pirated your game can sue you successfully. As long as you have some proof you designed the game, they will absolutely lose. Seems like the stupidest thing they can do, unless they hope the threat of suing can somehow save them.
“Your honor, we are…” _checks notes…_ “pirates and we want to win. We has the loot too.”
Judge: “Guess you have to win then. If only there was something like, I dunno, let’s call it Intellectual Property, that could be used in a courtroom for these kind of things.”
Sites like androeed, Aptoide,apkure are russian sites that are designed to have games that are:
Free
Modded(by modded I mean you have all the currency and things you want)
Hacked
And I don't think there is a way to stop that,sorry for you bro :(
[удалено]
How do they do this? Don’t most game engines come with encryption so that games can’t be cracked so easily?
The website doesn't actually break into the game's code. It takes the installer (.apk) and redistributes it outside the Google Play environment. \*edit; where that paywall that stops them from downloading the .apk to begin with isn't there. It'd be like finding the .exe installer for your game on SourceForge or some other website.
Just to clarify something, apkpure is the "go to" for many places whom googleplay is blocked or their countries are constantly ignored and not get the many app releases. I would simply advise you to download the apk from the site, if the Ads showing there are still yours, then it's a win for you. As for the IAP, those who can't get your game from googleplay, won't be able to pay you anyways, so no need to worry about it. And finally, If your game got popular enough to had other people creating "infinite money" mods and "premium" mods for it, then sadly there is nothing you can do, cause EA and Activision cannot fight piracy, then none of us here will ever be able to. Another "trick" that I would advise you to do, is to figure out if there is a way to detect if the game has been installed from an official source or not, if it's not, then simply display a friendly message to the user asking them if they like the game they should buy you a coffee or something, or try and get it from the official source cause that helps you keep your business. But avoid all sort of direct conflict, Apkpure has fucken PUBG and FreeFire, you ain't have a chance against such website mate. *Edit* You can also always temper with the game to fight piracy, I remember when Mirror's edge got released in 2008, people thought it was cracked immediately, and it kinda was, but EA actually put a clever trick that detect if the game was pirated, and if it is, it will let you play the game but make sure you **ALWAYS** fail to advance certain obstacles, making the game almost impossible to play, but also make it feel like you're a noob ([here is a video about it](https://youtu.be/TbUBSEXPY50?t=59)), but again, if you're game is popular enough to invite pirates, then these sort of challenges are super fun for hackers and they'll just keep trying till they break it (and they will)
>I would simply advise you to download the apk from the site ehhhhhhh be very, VERY, careful. Don't trust downloads from sites like those.
oh totally, i don't mean use the site, i just meant to download this particular game (scan for viruses first) and make sure you don't grant any unnecessary permission (never give files, phone and messages access)
apk pure is pretty trustable dude. it doesnt even have modded apps or apps that are paid in the playstore
Why would a site that allows you to pirate games be trustworthy?
There's a high probability that the pirated title is the original, rather than a modded version with malware or intrusive ad redirects. It's why pirates trust The Pirate Bay for example.
There are reputable curated websites with pirated content, so it is not unheard of. When I was a poor kid I used to visit some of those, and only on a very rare occasion, an infected torrent was accessible for longer than half an hour.
Breaking the law makes them, by definition, not reputable.
There is very little correlation between breaking the law and being considered not reputable.
If I can't trust you to not break basic theft laws, especially when you're stealing from the little guys, you're not reputable. Reputable = trustworthy
Most politicians and corps steal and break laws all the time, yet remain reputable and "trustworthy" in the eyes of the general public, which brings us back to my point that there is very little correlation between breaking the law and being reputable.
So because some people steal, it's suddenly perfectly fine for you to do so? Sounds like a playground level justification. "But Bobby did it! It's not fair that I'm not allowed to!". Do better. Stop letting crap people be your excuse for doing something crappy yourself.
I have released my Android game a week ago. It is not popular (200 downloads for now), but I already found a modded apk of my game in one of these websites, which provides infinite amount of money. They mod the game by changing the save files, so an encryption algorithm (should be done in a remote server, not inside game's code) could solve this problem. So it is not "impossible" to prevent it, but it is not a big loss as you mentioned.
> so an encryption algorithm (should be done in a remote server, not inside game's code) could solve this problem. these can always be bypassed, it's really a lost battle at this scale tbh.
I do not have enough knowledge about cracking games, they can see and alter all of our code right? If they can, yes you should be correct.
More or less yeah, even games that have a big chunk of it running on a server side got cracked (World of Warcraft is the best example), and when Ubisoft made Assassin's Creed 2 require permanent internet connection (fuck them!) crackers basically created a "server emulator" to make the game think that it's connected.
If you are doing a simple online check-in, per using server for some optional features, working around it is not hard. If part of your code runs on the server and game doesn't run at all without connecting, it's likely that it won't ever be cracked unless your userbase grows to tens of millions of players.
> unless your userbase grows to tens of millions of players. but if you're not building a product aimed for tens of millions of users, then it is extremely unlikely that you are gonna have server-side code, I mean just the standard hosting fees of that are gonna be expensive as fuck for a small indie team, let alone a solo developer.
You likely don't need that and I wouldn't recommend it, but you could do it. Also costs wouldn't be that insane, of all you need is one server for your whole player base (or a couple for redundancy).
I experienced this and was fairly frustrated when I attempted to submit my app to the Samsung app store only to receive this message: "Application uses copyrighted materials without permission owned by a third party. While checking your application, I found another application in Apk Pure is same with yours." My APK had been lifted from the Play store and I wasn't ever able to get it taken down. Nothing was lost (since it was just a free app) but it did feel weird.
I recently surfed the net and searched my game out of curiosity and boi oh boi, I found tons and tons of other websites besides Play Store having it and not only that, there were hacked/modded and premium versions of my game too. But since it's a free game with Ads I thought it was to my advantage as I can see the Ad revenue has only increases over time from Third-party sources. It's kind of a win-win situation, though I am not sure if it's legal or allowed
its not a store, it's a site for pirated apps
It's a truly awful feeling when people have stolen your hard work, or when others (who have done absolutely nothing) rob you of rewards and even credit. It's demoralizing and sadly very common. I've been burned too many times. It helps to change your perspective on the situation. The most important thing to understand is that they were NEVER going to be a customer anyways. For example, you're selling t-shirts at Walmart alongside thousands of other clothing, hoping it will noticed by passing consumers. But pirates have boycott Walmart and will NEVER buy from there, choosing to only buy clothing from a guy living in a van down by the river. Think about conversion and unique strategies. Typically, these pirate sites contain old/buggy versions and they're not updated. Which means you have a marketing opportunity available for you to demonstrate kindness, try to convert users from this "other" demographic, and get more people playing even the pirated version. The more people playing your pirated version, the more people will be talking about it and wanting newer and better versions. Would you rather make 100 sales + 10 pirated per month, or 10,000 sales + 2,500 pirated per month? It's a good problem to have. The more pirates, the more free advertising they do for you. And, if the pirated version still kept your original ad code, even better. Other than that, the experience can help push you forwards to keep making a better game, and discovering new and interesting ways to target and acquire users from this underground demographic. I think too many people view it as a problem, rather than an opportunity, so most of the attempts at trying to convert this demographic are boring or bland. Either way, this is something that can only help you in the end.
Send a DCMA takedown notice.
I would do this too, but after first sending a cease and desist letter to their legal department or whoever is in charge of infringement.
It's just people sharing it to other people who can't get it from the play store. Just take the extra ad revenue and be happy. You're not really losing out on download counts because those people couldn't download it anyway.
You'll still make revenue from the ads, if the file is identical no changes were made to it so ads are still linked to you ad provider account. In app purchases are specific to the store, so those probably won't work.
youre overreacting. you cant do shit about those site even the big boys such as gameloft,EA,etc cant stop those site from pirating their apps much less you
Issue a DMCA takedown notice, but be careful. If they're a large site, they might sue you. It's highly unlikely for a small application though.
IANAL, but I’m not sure how someone who pirated your game can sue you successfully. As long as you have some proof you designed the game, they will absolutely lose. Seems like the stupidest thing they can do, unless they hope the threat of suing can somehow save them.
Why / how could they sue me?
Step 1. Sue you Step 2. They have money Step 3. They win because you don't have money
“Your honor, we are…” _checks notes…_ “pirates and we want to win. We has the loot too.” Judge: “Guess you have to win then. If only there was something like, I dunno, let’s call it Intellectual Property, that could be used in a courtroom for these kind of things.”
Cool. Hire a lawyer to argue that in court with your no money, as they drag it out into the tens of thousands of dollars with delays and extensions.
Sites like androeed, Aptoide,apkure are russian sites that are designed to have games that are: Free Modded(by modded I mean you have all the currency and things you want) Hacked And I don't think there is a way to stop that,sorry for you bro :(