Why are the only two options devs supporting them or their app breaking? I have software that is close to 20 years old that is both unsupported and still works.
If you don't update the app and don't update the OS there's no reason it shouldn't continue working. You update the OS and you run the risk of deprecated API's getting called.
Considering that the app store allows device and os specific versions to coexist, there's no reason that requires a dev to break an old game. When it happens, it's typically because the dev made an error and added a feature but incorrectly claimed it was compatible with older ios or device versions.
>> the app store allows device and os specific versions to coexist
It does? How does this work (I'm an iOS dev but been out of it for a little while so genuinely curious)?
I don't know the implementation specifics. But I can go out to the app store on my old iPad and download older versions of my apps. The problem is when the older version was updated incorrectly and is incompatible with my device/iOS version.
If Apple thinks your device is old enough to end support (and Apple's pretty good at pushing updates for old devices for quite a while) why would devs keep trying to support you (when the app probably only cost $1-2 and 5 years have passed).