Gameloft releases official statement regarding allegations of Airpush in Asphalt 7
Last week, we reported on a story about Asphalt 7 delivering notifications to users’ devices while the game wasn’t running. The notifications, which immediately seemed erroneous, were almost Airpush-esque. They were so similar, in fact, that a couple of different Gameloft representatives wrongly suggested the app did, indeed, use the new-age advertising service, even going as far as directing users to Airpush’s website to opt out.
Shortly after publishing, we received a statement from Airpush denying involvement in the deliverance of ads or notifications of any sort. The company even stated that it was a technical impossibility for Asphalt 7 to use the Airpush SDK as Gameloft is not signed up with them as an ad publisher, and that the behavior Gameloft’s game displayed was not indicative of Airpush’s SDK.
Confused, we sought an answer from Gameloft and we’ve finally gotten one — Airpush is in the clear, folks. Gameloft cleared things up and confirmed that Airpush is not being used in any way, shape or form. In fact, Gameloft said any notifications displayed were caused by a bug that has already been identified and fixed, and assured users that they would never see these notifications again.
We would like to apologize to our users and to Airpush for any misunderstanding, as well as the inconvenience of experiencing the bug. Our trusty crew has confirmed that our Asphalt 7 fans on Android should never receive these notifications again.
Well, that’s quite a relief for all parties involved. Asphalt 7 hasn’t received an update in the Play Store since late December, so any fixes must have been on the server side of things. Be sure to let us know if you’re still receiving any notifications, but judging by the Google Play Store reviews I imagine we’re in the clear. Read on for the full statement from Gameloft.
“Some Android fans of Asphalt 7: Heat recently got messages from the game popping up in their notification tray. Clearly the extreme speed of Asphalt 7 got our Customer Care team a little dizzy, because they mistakenly told users who complained that the messages came from the Airpush ad system.
Gameloft is not using the Airpush service, and Airpush has nothing to do with these messages. It was an internal error and a dedicated team at Gameloft identified the problem and leapt into action to solve it faster than a NASCAR pit crew.
We would like to apologize to our users and to Airpush for any misunderstanding, as well as the inconvenience of experiencing the bug. Our trusty crew has confirmed that our Asphalt 7 fans on Android should never receive these notifications again.
See you on the streets of Asphalt 7: Heat!”