Five independent App Store developers, stymied by the prospect of big publishers entering the space, have banded together to form a games seal of quality called App Treasures that they hope will protect their business from heavy hitters like EA.

According to Kotaku, the five devs are Imangi, The Blimp Pilots, Snappy Touch, Streaming Colour Studios, and Veiled Games.

"This is our way of combining resources to become a bigger player, while retaining our independence and without any of the drawbacks and strings attached that come from working with a publisher," said Keith Shepherd, the CEO of Imangi Studios, in comments made to Kotaku.

The five developers will also direct users who buy one of their seal-stamped games to other games within the network that also bear the seal. Eventually, other developers may be invited in, although selection criteria were not disclosed. [App Treasures via Kotaku]

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