Home indicator issue on iphone X

Did Apple change the requirements recently for games in landscape mode for use of the Home Indicator bar on the X? It used to be that I could swipe up and out of a game in landscape mode ... but now the Home Indicator bar goes grey ... you have to swipe/touch the indicator once or several times before it goes white, then you can swipe out of the game. One example is SimCity BuildIt. I went to the Genius Bar yesterday to see if it was an issue with the phone ... they did a diagnostic which indicated there were no dead spots on the touch screen ... their explanation is that it is a feature where you can't accidentally swipe out of the game while playing so you have to swipe twice in order to exit ... is this correct?