Hello everyone,
We initially published our game, Backrooms: Escape, on the App Store on October 15, 2024, and have since released 152 builds with updates. In total, our team has spent over a year working on this project.
However, we recently received a notification from the App Review Team stating that our app violates Guideline 4.1 (Copycats). The explanation we received was that we use “Backrooms” as a theme.
We are the legitimate rights holders of this project, which we can easily prove through both our development timeline and legal documentation. After multiple attempts to clarify the issue, the only feedback we got was that “using Backrooms” is the problem. Yet, there are well over a hundred other “Backrooms” apps currently on the App Store. Here are ten examples:
- Hide in The Backroom: Nextbots
- Noclip : Backrooms Multiplayer
- Backrooms Union Multiplayer
- Backrooms Descent: Horror Game
- Escape - Backrooms Horror
- Backrooms Anomaly
- Backrooms: Lost in Level 0
- Backrooms: Outrun To Survive!
- Backrooms Buff Doge Horror
- Backrooms: The Endless City
As noted here, the Backrooms lore is widely recognized as internet folklore and therefore does not infringe on any existing copyright. Moreover, our game itself is unique in both its mechanics and its implementation, making it fundamentally different from other Backrooms-themed titles.
We strongly believe this removal was made in error, especially since it occurred several months after our initial release. We also tried appealing but still haven’t received any response.
What else can we do to save the game?
Thank you in advance
