Side Hustle School Ep. 3296 - Failure Friday: “Apple rejected my game before it even launched…”
Jan 9, 2026
In this engaging segment, Matt, a front-end developer and indie game creator from Western Massachusetts, shares his ambitious journey of developing a location-based mobile game inspired by Pokémon Go. He discusses the challenges he faced with repeated rejections from Apple's App Store, leaving him puzzled and discouraged. Matt also highlights the complexities of transitioning to Android, given user demographics. Ultimately, he reflects on valuable lessons learned and shifts his focus to a news site, emphasizing the importance of resilience in the face of failure.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Failure Stories Teach Practical Lessons
- Failure stories reveal useful lessons and are part of building a resilient side hustle.
- Chris returned Failure Friday to highlight learning from setbacks, not just successes.
Ambitious Geolocation Game Rejected By Apple
- Matt built an in-person, geolocation-based mobile scavenger-hunt game in his nights and weekends.
- After submitting to Apple's App Store the app was repeatedly rejected without clear reasons, so he paused the project.
Pause And Reassess After Opaque Rejections
- If you hit opaque rejections, avoid endless tweaks and reassess feasibility and platform choices.
- Matt paused the game after repeated vague rejections and redirected effort to other projects.