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EA Retiring Tetris Apps for iOS in April 2020

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EA is ending support for its Tetris for iOS apps starting on April 21, 2020, the company announced today in app updates to Tetris Premium, Tetris 2011, and Tetris Blitz.

eatetris.jpg

As noted on the MacRumors forums, updates to the Tetris apps say that the games are being retired, with no word on why. From the app updates:
Hello Fans, We have had an amazing journey with you so far but sadly, it is time to say goodbye. As of April 21, 2020, EA's Tetris(R) app will be retired, and will no longer be available to play. Kindly note that you will still be able to enjoy the game and use any existing in-game items until April 21, 2020. We hope you have gotten many hours of enjoyment out of this game and we appreciate your ongoing support. Thank you!
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Customers who have purchased in-app items in one of EA's Tetris apps will need to use those items up before the game is retired on April 21, 2020. Though some apps remain available to play after being pulled from the App Store, it sounds like EA is removing access to the Tetris games entirely.

Tetris has been a staple iOS game since the iPhone launched, offering up well-known and well-loved block stacking puzzle gameplay. EA has offered several updates for its Tetris apps over the years, but prior to today's announcement about retirement, the apps had not seen an update since the summer of 2018.

Article Link: EA Retiring Tetris Apps for iOS in April 2020
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2020/01/21/ea-tetris-ios-retiring-april-2020/
People had to pay for this app so they should be getting refunds. Why did Tetris need an always online connection anyway? That’s the kind of game you’d want to play when you’re not connected to the internet. They should just be disabling needing to be online so people can still use the app, this is poor form.
 
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My guess it does not make enough money to keep supporting the app. You know: to pay a developer, manage the developer, provide the assets the developer requires, etc. All that costs money, not to mention tie up a good developer on an old game.
 
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Hello folks! I'm the one who originally posted about EA killing Tetris in the Software forum.

It seems that this post on Reddit explains the situation better; EA had a 15 year license to distribute Tetris games on mobile and that license expires... You guessed it, April 2020.

I'm still irritated that they may kill off existing installs, though. The least they can do is just remove the online components of the game and leave the app playable for those who already have it.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Tetris/comments/erxyus
 
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m4mario said:
My guess it does not make enough money to keep supporting the app. You know: to pay a developer, manage the developer, provide the assets the developer requires, etc. All that costs money, not to mention tie up a good developer on an old game.
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This could be very true, but why disable it and disallow people who already paid for it then? For example Alan Wake was removed off of the Xbox store due to music licensing issues but those who already purchased it could still play it and it was in their download history.

I also think it's in incredibly poor taste that EA is still selling the game as of right now, even with the warning that players won't be able to use it anymore come April.

The right thing to do here is to just disable the always online requirement so people can still play it. Tetris shouldn't have had this requirement to begin with.
 
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This is why I generally stay away from non-physical games now.

There is always a chance that a game will be pulled from the App Store, or an iOS update will break the game and the developer may not update the game to make it playable again. There are so many different things that can prevent you from playing games you purchased now.

This is a strange time for gaming. With physical media, it is pretty much good forever as you can always play it. I have many old NES, SNES, Genesis, etc. game that I can still play today, many decades after purchasing them.

If I die, all those games can go to my children, and they can continue to play them if they would like.

With digital purchases, you never know when the games will no longer be available to play.
 
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vertical smile said:
This is why I generally stay away from non-physical games now.

There is always a chance that a game will be pulled from the App Store, or an iOS update will break the game and the developer may not update the game to make it playable again. There are so many different things that can prevent you from playing games you purchased now.

This is a strange time for gaming. With physical media, it is pretty much good forever as you can always play it. I have many old NES, SNES, Genesis, etc. game that I can still play today, many decades after purchasing them.

If I die, all those games can go to my children, and they can continue to play them if they would like.

With digital purchases, you never know when the games will no longer be available to play.
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Thankfully the Nintendo Switch uses physical cartridges. Nintendo still "gets it" in that sense; once you buy a game for the Switch it's yours forever.
 
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I’m sure we will have an “opportunity” to re-buy the same game in late April 2020 from a different developer

😐
 
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Allegedly EA's license for Tetris ran out and they have to pull the game. I guess they could extend by trying to buy more time but the game is old and Tetris Royale is coming out not made by EA.
 
Did EA lose the licensing rights? Or are they going to condense the offerings into a single game to clean up duplicate search results and confusion? Or will we get Tetris 99 instead? Or was it too difficult to update to the latest iOS changes/rules (it is odd that Android is left out of this announcement)? Seems like this is one of those “only time will tell” scenarios because the phone is a great platform for this.
 
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btrach144 said:
I really do hate EA for this behavior. They buy up games (like Plants vs Zombies) and then kill the series. Why buy all the IP only to kill it off?
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Kills the competition. The same reason companies will buy licensing deals for new products with the intention of never ever implementing the new design. They just want it so no one else can develop it.
 
Appleman3546 said:
Did EA lose the licensing rights? Or are they going to condense the offerings into a single game to clean up duplicate search results and confusion? Or will we get Tetris 99 instead? Or was it too difficult to update to the latest iOS changes/rules (it is odd that Android is left out of this announcement)? Seems like this is one of those “only time will tell” scenarios because the phone is a great platform for this.
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I hope tetris 99!!!
 
I’m curious if they’ve continued selling it until a few short months before it gets forcibly removed.

People wonder why I only buy music and movies on physical media... Little tougher to do that for games, but telling people in January that your going into their gaming closet in April to take your stuff back is kind of a bad look...
 
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