• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Angry Birds to be removed from Android store & renamed on Apple Store. Developer says it's just too popular

https://www.eurogamer.net/angry-birds-will-leave-android-store-developer-says-its-just-too-popular
The original Angry Birds is being pulled from Google Play due to its business "impact" on developer Rovio's other mobile games.

On iPhone, Angry Birds will stay available - albeit under a new and instantly-forgettable name: "Red's First Flight".

Why? In a statement, Rovio suggests the original Angry Birds is simply too popular, and that players are too happy to spend the app's one-off 79p price rather than download the brand's many free-to-play sequels and spin-offs which contain further microtransactions.

"We have reviewed the business case of Rovio Classics: Angry Birds, and due to the game's impact on our wider games portfolio, we have decided that Rovio Classics: Angry Birds will be unlisted from the Google Play Store on Thursday, 23rd February," a statement by Rovio posted to Twitter reads. "Additionally, the game will be renamed to Red’s First Flight in the App Store pending further review.

"We understand this is sad news for many fans, as well as the team that has worked hard to make Rovio Classics: Angry Birds a reality. We are extremely grateful to the Angry Birds fans who have shown their love of the brand and this game from the beginning.

"We hope those fans can continue to bring that passion to our live Angry Birds slingshot games such as Angry Birds 2, Angry Birds Friends, and Angry Birds Journey, where our goal every day is to craft the best possible experience for players," Rovio concluded.


Angry Birds was so popular for so long that it's preventing the devs from ripping more money from people with MTX with their other apps.

So on Android Angry Birds will be sunset for good, apparently it was dangerously popular on there. on IOS they will simply give it a new name, which probably won't work the way they think since the game will be under their studio banner in the APPLE store, and all the media casuals follow will learns about the new name.

I supposed though it will still reduce the number of people significantly naming it Reds First Flight.

Meanwhile Subway Surfers is still making bank on it's original MTX without having to remove anything or change anything.
 
Last edited:

Roni

Member
https://www.eurogamer.net/angry-birds-will-leave-android-store-developer-says-its-just-too-popular



Angry Birds was so popular for so long that it's preventing the devs from ripping more money from people with MTX with their other apps.

So on Android Angry Birds will be sunset for good, apparently it was dangerously popular on there. on IOS they will simply give it a new name, which probably won't work the way they think since the game will be under their studio banner in the APPLE store, and all the media casuals follow will learns about the new name.

I supposed though it will still reduce the number of people significantly naming it Reds First Flight.

Meanwhile Subway Surfers is still making bank on MTX without having to remove anything or change anything.

Honestly, this type of bullshit is why humans deserve extinction.
 
giphy.gif
 

Drew1440

Member
So people prefer to pay just 79p for a proper game rather than deal with microtransactions, shouldn't that tell them something?

I doubt people will start playing the other games now the original has been removed, so it's a double L for Rovio.
 

Magic Carpet

Gold Member
I remember my DAD getting a birthday cake shaped as one of the angry birds as a joke because he played it so much.
That was like before my kids were born. way way back.
 
I don't play it but since I have a lot of space I may just download the game to have it since it's going to be permanently delisted. Plus they claim, at least for now current downloads can and will still be able to play it so...
 
Last edited:

MiguelItUp

Member
If they don't monetize it, why don't they just add ads and call it a day? That's a really bizarre path to take IMO. Just pull it all together? Wtf? I don't think I've seen any other dev come out on their personal socials to say such a thing, lol.
 

hemo memo

You can't die before your death
It is so popular that your money is not enough. So we want to rip you off better. This is without a doubt the worst case of greed in the industry by far which is hard to achieve.
 
Last edited:

Patrick S.

Banned
This must have been my first mobile game, back on my first PDA Smartphone, in like 2009? Didn't know people were still playing this. I only played it because back then, the 400-600MHz phones couldn't really handle anything more complex... I thought everyone had moved on ten years ago.
 
Last edited:

Cyberpunkd

Member
If they don't monetize it, why don't they just add ads and call it a day? That's a really bizarre path to take IMO. Just pull it all together? Wtf? I don't think I've seen any other dev come out on their personal socials to say such a thing, lol.
Can you have adds on a 79p game? Isn’t it against Apple’s app guidelines?
 

eye__writ

Banned
If they don't monetize it, why don't they just add ads and call it a day? That's a really bizarre path to take IMO. Just pull it all together? Wtf? I don't think I've seen any other dev come out on their personal socials to say such a thing, lol.
It already contains ads.

Also, it's a remake of the original with fucked up physics, so no great loss.
 

Mattyp

Gold Member
I bought this game so long ago on iPhone when looking at my purchased apps it’s referred to as ‘AB Classic’ on my app list in 2010 so it’s different to the classic one even listed above.

The app page is down, and I just downloaded then and hasn’t been updated in years doesn’t fit a new iPhone screen properly but fair play they haven’t removed it completely like dozens of other games I paid for over a decade ago again I don’t even have the choice to download them anymore, games I paid cash for. And people prefer digital, yet majority of games purchased 12 years ago on here I can no longer download.
 
Last edited:
If they don't monetize it, why don't they just add ads and call it a day? That's a really bizarre path to take IMO. Just pull it all together? Wtf? I don't think I've seen any other dev come out on their personal socials to say such a thing, lol.
They advertised it as a non-AP or ads version, so they would be sued if they added monetizing features.

I think renaming it and raising the price would be nice. 15$ and simply called it RED. I don’t know why they have these games for a dollar, simply doesn’t make sense to me.

I just bought it though, and I probably will never play it.
 

MiguelItUp

Member
Can you have adds on a 79p game? Isn’t it against Apple’s app guidelines?
I was more so referring to the Android version since they removed it all together.
It already contains ads.

Also, it's a remake of the original with fucked up physics, so no great loss.
Ah, odd. I guess the ads weren't generating enough revenue? Lol, JUST ADD MORE!
They advertised it as a non-AP or ads version, so they would be sued if they added monetizing features.

I think renaming it and raising the price would be nice. 15$ and simply called it RED. I don’t know why they have these games for a dollar, simply doesn’t make sense to me.

I just bought it though, and I probably will never play it.
Gotcha, I guess I missed that part, valid point. Yeah, there's a lot of other routes they could have taken that seem better in the end. This is just really bizarre. Especially for the Android version, to just remove it all together?
 
Charge more money for it then? Mobile games are fucking huge turds simply because they throw all kinds of shit at you asking for money.

People want simple with no ads, most of us are happy to pay a one time fee to get full access to a product with no strings attached.

But no, fuck that. Let’s take something away from people rather than come up with a reasonable solution.
 
They advertised it as a non-AP or ads version, so they would be sued if they added monetizing features.

I think renaming it and raising the price would be nice. 15$ and simply called it RED. I don’t know why they have these games for a dollar, simply doesn’t make sense to me.

I just bought it though, and I probably will never play it.

Raising the price to $15 is basically the same as killing the game and delisting it from both stores.
 
Just tried to find classic angry birds in the android store to no avail. So, instead of buying it, I downloaded aptoide and pirated it. Fuck Rovio, Empress was right about everything lol
 

Connxtion

Member
Don't know about Apple but it's 89p on Android and contains ads.
No ad ads, just ads for their other version that are monetised to the hilt.

My original games never got updated for newer IOS versions so I had to buy the newer version. Luckily it was a buy once game and not like the second game that’s just micro transactions.

Scummy move by this company, if it’s the most popular then that tells you, people don’t want micro transaction orientated versions.

Me personally would rather pay £5 to have the game than get constant pop up asking me to buy some crap I don’t want.
 
Last edited:
Just tried to find classic angry birds in the android store to no avail. So, instead of buying it, I downloaded aptoide and pirated it. Fuck Rovio, Empress was right about everything lol

Yep they said the 23 it would be gone and they got rid of it very early in the day too from what i saw elsewhere.

The renaming of the app on the Apple Store will still be found and will be under their profile, but I guess on Android they think the number would still be way too high and they want to milk that audience the most so decided to remove it from the Playstore completely.
 

SomeGit

Member
It's very sad, I insta bought it when it came out, but now it's guaranted that they and other companies won't release definitive ad-free versions of their classic mobile games.
Shame, because I know of a few that I would buy, even at a bigger price like 4,99 or even 9,99 if it was that good.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom