by petepete on 2/22/23, 3:01 PM
It's almost as if when given the choice people prefer games without microtransactions, even if they're older and have fewer features/powerups etc.
by cld8483 on 2/22/23, 3:02 PM
They can't compete with what they once were, so they bury the past. I suspect many industries are like this. If classic movies were played alongside new Hollywood releases, the new movies would probably be choked out. Accordingly, Disney will even restrict the availability of their old movies on DVD. They can't stand competing with their former great selves.
by mikejarema on 2/22/23, 3:25 PM
The announcement says it'll be renamed to "Red's First Flight" and be re-listed "pending further review".
I wonder if this is simply a rebranding so that the original no longer appears for "Angry Birds" searches in the app store. Namely that subsequent versions make more $ per install, and having the original at a low price point is cannibalizing sales of the newer more profitable titles.
by Karliss on 2/22/23, 5:32 PM
Interesting fact. The version they unlisted is not only remake of original one, it's their latest (or at least one of the latest) released Angry Bird games. It was released in 2022. The other games they want you to play instead are technically older. When making this remake they could have included whatever modern monetization schemes they wanted (as long as it doesn't require too much changes to gameplay itself). Actual original one was removed in 2019. Removing their latest(remake) because it's too popular, make the whole thing more funny than removing actual original version which would be ~14 years old at this point.
by hedora on 2/22/23, 3:21 PM
We need copyright reform for cases like this. In particular, copyright infringement damages should be capped at a small multiple of lost sales.
That way, when a copyrighted work goes of market (or is no longer sold at a reasonable mass-market rate), there would be no penalty for redistributing it.
(Derivative works might need to be handled differently, since the above effectively invalidates the GPL, though not Apache or BSD)
by thriftwy on 2/22/23, 3:00 PM
The "New" angry birds are barely playable and even the "Angry Birds Classic" seem to be much worse than the ones I had on my N900 a decade ago.
But the new ones are just a piece of crap where the actual gameplay occupies the 5% of overall UI and the level design is boring as hell (levels look like somebody vomited them on the screen). It is basically how they put their child on altar and sacrificed it to Mammon.
I wanted my small children to get the Angry Birds experience but my youth memories were violated.
by rchaud on 2/22/23, 4:00 PM
The mobile gaming landscape could have been completely different if Rovio charged a flat $10 for Angry Birds all those years ago.
I'm sure they've made significantly more money by going freemium with ads, but in doing so they also poisoned the well of mobile gaming. Everything now is Pay to Win. Despite there being genuinely impressive games on mobile (Asphalt racing for one), the mechanics of how the game actually works makes me not want to play it.
by codepoet80 on 2/22/23, 3:16 PM
by gjsman-1000 on 2/22/23, 2:58 PM
Well... no surprise. It's the classic version, and you can buy it for $0.99 and have all the content, all the powerups, and none of the ads. Too good a deal for 2023.
by scarface74 on 2/22/23, 3:05 PM
I saw the same thing happen with Tetris. It was first released when the App Store came out. It was 99 cents and no ads.
It kept working and being available through the 32 bit era. But was never updated for larger screens and was replaced with an ad ridden version.
Plants vs Zombies 2 was also much worse than the original because of ads and in app purchases.
That being said, they did “bring back” Angry Birds Classic to iOS as a one time 99 cents purchase.
by causi on 2/22/23, 4:03 PM
What kind of dumpster-fire developer gets out-competed by a game they released fourteen years ago targeted at a platform with a 320x480 screen and 128MB of RAM?
by stephc_int13 on 2/22/23, 3:11 PM
The AppStore pricing system and later the quick domination of the "free to play" model initiated at the same time a gold rush and a race to the bottom that has been immensely profitable for a few lucky companies that understood the trend early enough and/or had the cash to sustain large campaigns of so-called "customer acquisition".
I think the net effect has overall been detrimental for users and companies alike.
99p games should never have existed in the first place.
by yieldcrv on 2/22/23, 3:12 PM
A decade ago mobile app gaming showed promise, no real hits but the medium showing that it has legs
A decade later it is worse than anyone imagined, no real hits just a couple games from that earlier era because they’re the only ones you can play offline at all
if I'm missing some gems let me know!
by cloudking on 2/22/23, 3:28 PM
That's a shame, one of the first great UX for mobile games. Nothing until that release quite matched the feeling of pulling a slingshot.
by jdlyga on 2/22/23, 4:03 PM
I lost faith in Rovio when they started advertising fake game footage on TikTok.
They're just a clickbait company now.
by taubek on 2/22/23, 3:00 PM
None of the sequels were good as the first version.
by stewx on 2/22/23, 3:31 PM
Anyone remember Tap Tap Revenge? Another game that was delisted a long time ago after a period of great popularity (15 million downloads in that game series, per Wikipedia).
by jabroni_salad on 2/22/23, 2:59 PM
Surely this is a marketing stunt and it will be back to normal in 3 days with an oopsie apology.
by mindvirus on 2/22/23, 3:09 PM
Refreshingly honest reasoning, at least.
by hbn on 2/22/23, 4:15 PM
The mobile games industry is such a mess and it worries me that kids are only being exposed to video games that are 80% watching ads and begging for microtransactions. If this is the standard, they may never expect more.
On the other hand, I find solace that we still have games like Elden Ring coming out that are a one-time purchase, finely crafted experience that manage to sell like gangbusters.
by cptcobalt on 2/22/23, 5:07 PM
I don't disagree with everyone's reactions of "they're probably making a bad game if their original with the least microtransactions is the most popular"—but there's also one key point I don't see being elevated enough:
archival.
It's relatively silly that when they pull these games, there's very little way to get them back—see flappy bird, for instance. With classic game consoles, you still have the install/play media like discs and cartridges. With digital downloads, you don't—and if you do, you still need some sort of code or receipt signing to play, even if you have the binary.
That's not great—we're going to have games lost to time. Sure, maybe not Angry Birds for its cultural influence, but others? Definitely.
by flenserboy on 2/22/23, 3:11 PM
A wedge for developers looking to boost Linux: make small, quality games that distribution makers can be convinced to include. MicroSoft did this with Minesweeper and Solitaire, and far more people than you might think demanded Windows not because it could do the tasks they wanted, but because it had the simple recreations they desired and had grown used to. The best way to crowd out the ad-laden and micro-transaction app models is to make small, very well-made, free games the norm. There are some of these games available for Linux, but most lack the polish and discoverability that are necessary to get attention and help bring people over.
by yamtaddle on 2/22/23, 3:32 PM
Still on the Apple App Store? I was so happy to find it on there a while back. Was surprised it was so cheap, though—I barely game at all on my phone, but would have paid quite a bit more than what they were charging for that game.
Guess there's little hope of their re-releasing Seasons, then? That's the only other one I'd pay money for (or, indeed, even play for free).
by perryizgr8 on 2/24/23, 6:38 AM
I must say I am astonished at the current state of mobile "gaming". All this talent and money and I still got more enjoyment and gameplay out of free newgrounds flash games developed by a single man in his spare time.
by gravitronic on 2/22/23, 3:35 PM
Just the end of the new software lifecycle: company revokes access and it disappears forever.
by no_time on 2/22/23, 3:58 PM
With the magic of btdig.com you too can find all of their releases for PC and android alike.
https://i.imgur.com/EcJugS8.png
Another loss for paying customers, another win for pirates.
by forevergreenyon on 2/22/23, 4:05 PM
future online tutorial:
"How to 'write' your first "hello world!" program"
step 1: find the "hello word!" app in the store
step 2: buy it
step 3: done! you're now 'programming' your device!!!
by lambic2 on 2/22/23, 3:14 PM
I don't understand, is it because they do not want to change its monetization to ads and IAP's? How is having this game in the App Store making them lose money?
by rkangel on 2/22/23, 3:28 PM
If it's "too popular" why would you not just increase the price to like $10? It shouldn't which way you make money, as long as you make money.
by narrator on 2/22/23, 3:12 PM
It's not like there aren't a lot of other games to play out there. The market for mobile entertainment is about as competitive as any.
by ChoGGi on 2/22/23, 2:59 PM
I don't know who Buck is in in relation to company position, but that's a lovely response :)
by beardog on 2/22/23, 3:22 PM
Huh, I would think ads and all the merchandise they sell would be enough.
by Kukumber on 2/22/23, 3:54 PM
Off-topic:
What a poor way to make an announcement
- low resolution image
- red flashy background full of noise
- blurry text
My eyes are still burning
by reiichiroh on 2/22/23, 6:59 PM
It’s PopCap situation all over again after EA
by jgilias on 2/22/23, 3:11 PM
Thanks! Just bought it.
by gitfan86 on 2/22/23, 2:59 PM
This explains the current unemployment rate in the US.
When given the choice between working several hours at a job you don't like to pay for entertainment verses using a free option for entertainment that is just as good if not better, many people are choosing the former.
