Popular Emulator Changes Logo After Adobe Sends Legal Threat

The people behind the immensely popular iOS retro game emulator, Delta, have been forced to quickly change the app’s logo after receiving legal threats from Adobe and warnings from Apple.

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On April 7, Apple changed its app store rules and began allowing retro video game emulators onto its digital storefront. Within just a few days, some of the most popular apps on the App Store were emulators. One of those new apps shooting up the charts is the multi-console emulator Delta, which has a decade-long history. Its creator, Riley Testut, recently spoke with Kotaku, sharing his hopes that the emulator can lead the charge into a new, better future for retro gaming. But first, before that all happens, Delta will have to find a new logo.

As reported by The Verge, on May 17, the Delta emulator on iOS was updated to version 1.5.4. And in the patch notes for this update, there’s a message indicating that Adobe—the company behind Photoshop and Premiere—had sent Delta a legal threat.

“Adobe threatened legal action unless we changed our app icon—so we did! Hope y’all like it,” explained Delta’s developer in the patch notes.

Image: Adobe / Delta / Kotaku

Testut spoke to The Verge about the situation, explaining that it all happened really fast across a few emails. This all started on May 7, when Adobe’s lawyers sent Testut a “firm” but “kindly written” email requesting Delta change its icon, explaining that the emulator might “not wish to confuse consumers or otherwise violate Adobe’s rights or the law.”

But before Testut could reply, the next day Apple sent Delta an email and suggested that the emulator might be at risk after it was contacted by Adobe, which alleged that Delta was infringing on its IP.

“We responded to both Apple and Adobe explaining our icon was a stylized Greek letter delta—not an A—but that we would update the Delta logo anyway to avoid confusion,” Testut told The Verge.

The current Delta icon on the App Store now is just a temporary one. The plan is to launch a new permanent logo in the future alongside update 1.6. As pointed out by the outlet, Delta’s old icon most closely resembled Adobe’s Cloud Experience app icon. Since the ‘80s, most of Adobe’s logos and branding have included a stylized A featuring a gap, a design that does look similar to Delta’s old, now-defunct icon.

Hopefully, Delta’s next icon doesn’t share anything in common with some other giant and litigious corporation.