[NullPointer]

Next gen you won't own a thing you bought.

Makes me wonder whether we'll see support for transferring digital content between current consoles and the next. If its not there then all the more reason to explore alternatives like PC where your purchased content can have a much longer lifespan.

These companies are truly playing with fire.

[saunderez]

So you're mad that you can get an Android game to run on a device that was never designed to be installed on? As much as I hate EA, I don't really think you can fault them for not supporting a hacked rom installed onto a random device.

If they didn't actively block the download of game data I wouldn't have an issue. You can copy the game data from another device and the games run just fine. What makes things worse is you can still buy the games on a Touchpad running Android (with the Touchpad identifying itself as a Touchpad), they aren't filtered out of the market like they should be on an unsupported device. They need to pick an option - stop selling the game on devices they won't support or allow game data to install to all devices. I'm also unable to download game data for The Sims on any of my devices (including the SGS2). They just don't give shit.

[Wiggler]

Apple's app store is all kinds of shady to begin with. I mean, they continually sell stolen games without giving it a second thought. It really doesn't surprise me in the slightest that a publisher like EA would take advantage of being able to implement their own shady business practices into whatever products they release in Apple's store. There's practically no oversight over there.

[SalsaShark]

Apple's app store is all kinds of shady to begin with. I mean, they continually sell stolen games without giving it a second thought.

That game was made by a close friend of mine. They went ahead with iOS anyway (they were super pissed) and made Kingdom Rush and achieved success.

My friend and these other guys being one of the first examples of worldwide succesfull game development in Uruguay made this all the more shitty, was all over the news.

[davepoobond]

thats what you get for buying Rock Band/Guitar Hero.

what a shitty game. i hate it more every year that passes as i watch my fucking drumset gather more and more dust.

[Dead Man]

Additionally, the app is still avalable for the low low price of $5 without any mention of this upcoming Armageddon.

That is worse than just disabling the shit in the first place. Shady as fuck.

[Wiggler]

That game was made by a close friend of mine. They went ahead with iOS anyway (they were super pissed) and made Kingdom Rush and achieved success. My friend and these other guys being one of the first examples of worldwide succesfull game development in Uruguay made this all the more shitty, was all over the news.

That's my website and article, btw. My wife was the music composer for that game. I ran a full campaign (spreading the word everywhere, contacting Kotaku, Destructoid, etc.) exposing the thieves who stole, re-packaged and sold Clash of the Olympians in Apple's store. I thought my efforts would end with Apple banning the thieves forever, but no such thing happened and to this day, they continue to sell stolen apps and games made by other developers.

So happy to hear that Kingdom Rush worked out so well for them like it did, btw. Ironhide deserves all the success that comes their way.

[SalsaShark]

That's my website and article, btw. My wife was the music composer for that game. I ran a full campaign (spreading the word everywhere, contacting Kotaku, Destructoid, etc.) exposing the thieves who stole, re-packaged and sold Clash of the Olympians in Apple's store. I thought my efforts would end with Apple banning the thieves forever, but no such thing happened and to this day, they continue to sell stolen apps and games made by other developers. So happy to hear that Kingdom Rush worked out so well for them like it did, btw. Ironhide deserves all the success that comes their way.

wow, awesome :) the music for clash of the olympians was really really cool, props to your wife, and yeah, really happy it all worked out.

[Mr. Enigma]

Welcome to the future of gaming. Where publishers will hold killswitches to all your offline games.

[Xanathus]

That's my website and article, btw. My wife was the music composer for that game. I ran a full campaign (spreading the word everywhere, contacting Kotaku, Destructoid, etc.) exposing the thieves who stole, re-packaged and sold Clash of the Olympians in Apple's store. I thought my efforts would end with Apple banning the thieves forever, but no such thing happened and to this day, they continue to sell stolen apps and games made by other developers. So happy to hear that Kingdom Rush worked out so well for them like it did, btw. Ironhide deserves all the success that comes their way.

Did you actually try taking legal action, e.g. get a lawyer to file a DMCA notice against Apple? It seems like the most obvious thing to do rather than simply talking about it on the internet. Apple has absolutely no obligation or reason to do anything about the copyright infringement (not theft) until you do that one single step. If they had to investigate every time someone claims on the internet that someone is infringing on their copyrights, they'd never get anything done.

[Mr. Enigma]

I just asked my girlfriend to check her iPod, and yes, she got the doomsday message. It's real.

[NullPointer]

Welcome to the future of gaming. Where publishers will hold killswitches to all your offline games.

The end of history for the emerging medium of our time.

[EvilDick34]

Why does it not surprise me that DD haters come out in full force and knock DD as a ripoff. These kinds of people need to accept that probably in another 10 years games will most likely be pure digital download?

[br0ken_shad0w]

Makes me wonder whether we'll see support for transferring digital content between current consoles and the next. If its not there then all the more reason to explore alternatives like PC where your purchased content can have a much longer lifespan. These companies are truly playing with fire.

I was complaining about this since Xbox 1. Nintendo`s doing a half passed attempt with the DSi and 3DS. MS obviously can`t use the friend list excuse again so well see. Same with Sony. If they don't transfer, then I`m off new consoles forever.

[SmokyDave]

Welcome to part of the future of gaming. Where shit publishers will hold killswitches to all your offline games.

Added a couple of fixes.

[NullPointer]

Why does it not surprise me that DD haters come out in full force and knock DD as a ripoff. These kinds of people need to accept that probably in another 10 years games will most likely be pure digital download?

DD haters? Steam is beloved by many on GAF.

There is very, very, very bad DD and there is better DD.

I was complaining about this since Xbox 1. Nintendo`s doing a half passed attempt with the DSi and 3DS. MS obviously can`t use the friend list excuse again so well see. Same with Sony. If they don't transfer, then I`m off new consoles forever.

Yep. Digital ownership isn't fringe anymore, so these companies better be careful how they plot out their next moves.

[udivision]

Why does it not surprise me that DD haters come out in full force and knock DD as a ripoff. These kinds of people need to accept that probably in another 10 years games will most likely be pure digital download?

Accepting =/= Liking

[saunderez]

Why does it not surprise me that DD haters come out in full force and knock DD as a ripoff. These kinds of people need to accept that probably in another 10 years games will most likely be pure digital download?

Not a DD hater at all (I buy A LOT of XBLA games) but it's hard not to be wary when publishers can basically steal content we paid for whenever they feel like it with no recourse (because it's in the EULA suckas).

[PaulLFC]

The one iOS game I have from them, monopoly, crashes all the time, runs poorly, and only gets updated to add more ads to it. Pure garbage.

According to the recent app store reviews, they "updated" FIFA 12 iPad, an app that costs £6.99/$9.99 when not on sale, to include ads. Ads in a $10 game. I wonder what way they'll find to annoy customers next?

[Htown]

The fix is to not buy anything from companies that are known to be assholes about this kind of thing.

[Box of Bunnies]

Entitlement all up in this. You guys knew you were just buying a license to use the software, EA are simply exercising their right to extinguish said license. You're free to go and buy a copy of Rock Band or other Rock Band products for home consoles or the Nintendo DS or PSP if you wish to continue enjoying the software, but please ensure that any copy you purchase is new.

[Nevasleep]

It was actually a really good game too. I'm tempted to buy it, just to ask for a refund from Apple.(Protest?)
I'm also downloading the 'Rockband Reloaded' iPad version which i own, to check.

[JDSN]

Another douchebag move by a big publisher, another opportunity for big gaming sites to dissapoint me by ignoring this.

[Jay-B]

God I hope this doesn't become a thing on next gen consoles. I don't want to have to read the 10 pages TOS every fucking time I by a $0.99 game.

[Jocchan]

It was actually a really good game too.

Seriously.

According to the recent app store reviews, they "updated" FIFA 12 iPad, an app that costs £6.99/$9.99 when not on sale, to include ads. Ads in a $10 game. I wonder what way they'll find to annoy customers next?

What about disabling the game the day FIFA 13 is out?

[saunderez]

About the best thing anyone who has purchased the game can do is amend their review to 0 stars and give the reasons why in the review. At least that way they mightn't sucker many more people into buying it before the cutoff date.

[PaulLFC]

Another douchebag move by a big publisher, another opportunity for big gaming sites to dissapoint me by ignoring this.

I tweeted this thread to Eurogamer, they're usually pretty good at picking up on stories like this, let's hope they cover it.

[ShinUltramanJ]

Like I've said, with DD you own nothing. Think EA could do that with physical copies? I shudder at the thought of these bastards in charge of my purchases.

[glaringradio]

A terrible terrible TERRIBLE TERRIBLE game is getting disabled by a terrible company, quelle surprise.

I still have it on my phone and haven't received the message in question, so I'm a bit surprised. Also I've played it when plane mode is active and it plays absolutely fine, so I'm extremely intrigued as to what will happen on May 31st. I can think of 3 different scenarios:

1. EA are being incompetent as usual and this message just means that you won't be able to download the application beyond May 31st.

2. They'll release an update to the application between now and May 31st which will activate this (lack of) function, however this will result in a huge amount of people being extremely pissed off and class action lawsuits will follow.

3. The 31st of May deactivation has always been built in to the application... which does not make a single fucking shred of sense at all, unless the application is constantly checking the date and time against one of EA's servers.

In summary, I'm going to go with EA being incompetent as usual and this message means you won't be able to download the app beyond May 31st.

[ShinUltramanJ]

Entitlement all up in this. You guys knew you were just buying a license to use the software, EA are simply exercising their right to extinguish said license. You're free to go and buy a copy of Rock Band or other Rock Band products for home consoles or the Nintendo DS or PSP if you wish to continue enjoying the software, but please ensure that any copy you purchase is new.

Nah, used copies only.

[Combichristoffersen]

Ahy, the joys of a digital future. Better learn to bend over and accept that you don't own whatever DD content you may buy, you're only renting it as long as the content provider sees fit. Still doesn't excuse EA's behavious in this case.

[Nevasleep]

A terrible terrible TERRIBLE TERRIBLE game

Really? I enjoyed it, one of the better iOS games IMO.

Anyway, no warning for Rockband Reloaded....I guess they forgot it exists.

[mrklaw]

Entitlement all up in this. You guys knew you were just buying a license to use the software, EA are simply exercising their right to extinguish said license. You're free to go and buy a copy of Rock Band or other Rock Band products for home consoles or the Nintendo DS or PSP if you wish to continue enjoying the software, but please ensure that any copy you purchase is new.

oh please. Its very easy to come in here quoting pointless technical details about EULAs and T&Cs. So what? Regardless of what limited access licenses we might or might not be temporarily leasing from a company - you pay your money you consider you own the product.

If that isn't technically true, then the laws need to change.

[Eusis]

Why does it not surprise me that DD haters come out in full force and knock DD as a ripoff. These kinds of people need to accept that probably in another 10 years games will most likely be pure digital download?

I suspect that if this shit keeps coming up it WILL blow up in the face of DD, or at the least there'll remain companies that realize they can capitalize on those that want physical media.

And seriously, fuck the notion of going pure digital as an industry, especially for all entertainment period. There's benefits, yes, and due to those benefits I want DD to be a serious option, but there's downsides and straight up bullshit like this that goes on. If stuff like this keeps up unrestrained I think I'd actually prefer if technology were throttled back to the level of the 80s or 90s.

[TheDrowningMan]

There does need to be clarification on DD. Let us know whether or not we have the ability to access the game for as long as necessary on the purchase platform, that's all. I don't expect to be able to play a game from 2010 on Windows 16 or PSN game several consoles down the line, but I don't expect to be hijacked for no good reason.

Sure. EA. let it die naturally; stop supporting it. I'm sure there'll be an iOS update that it lacks compatability with sooner or later, but this is unscrupulous and immoral.

If DD brings the ability to break games on the host platform, the games should not cost more than £1. Ever.

[CPS2]

"Thanks for rocking out with us!" Is so going to be the catch phrase whenever a company does this, like "horse armour" but far worse. You should be able to get your money back... is there anything in the app store EULA or when you purchase the game that says they can just deactivate it at any time?

I think things like that shouldn't be buried in text, they should get you to confirm you understand what you're buying before paying for it.

[Blunt]

Digital downloadable games you don't actually own!

Physical game discs that you cannot trade in because they are now single use only!

Fuck the customer, the future is now!


I can't wait for when the new consoles launch and you'll be unable to transfer your purchases for old-ass arcade ROM's because of 'technical incompatibilities' but it's okay guys because they'll have those beloved classics available on the Store 2.0 at competitive prices and maybe with an additional blurry filter effect.

[gofreak]

How often does this happen?

ngcomo announced they were shutting down Eliminate a few days back...although it is F2P and they have removed it from the app store.

[Omikaru]

I'm sure the people who pirated the game will continue to rock out long after May 31st.

[Roxas]

EA:

[Lich_King]

EA is just pirating their own game back from dirty consumers, they are ahead of the curve

[Yagharek]

I love the hypocrisy here.

Publishers: used games are hurting the industry! We must move to digital distribution!

then in the same breath:

Publishers: oh, that game you downloaded? You cant play it anymore after Wednesday. Too bad.

Ive said it before: EA are thieves.

[Wallach]

What the fuck, man. Crazy. What a shit company.

[Coppertracks]

Welcome to the future of gaming. Where publishers will hold killswitches to all your offline digital games.

Fixed for real ;)

Isn't this similar to when Amazon deleted people's copies of 1984 (oh how ironic) from their Kindle? Lawsuits and positive changes to their T&Cs resulted IIRC. I'm not expecting the same to happen here but I can certainly see it happening with a bigger title.

[feint_ruled]

OP's screenshot is just begging to be shopped into "Dear Fuckers"

[mrklaw]

I'm fine with companies not making games available to buy anymore - eg a license runs out, or they bring out a new edition, so new customers don't have access

I'm fine with them shutting off online services after a reasonable period of time (eg two years).

I'm almost fine with companies not letting me re-download my purchased games indefinitely, assuming there are methods in place for me to easily be able to back purchases up myself on my computer.

I'm NOT fine with companies deciding I can't play that game anymore at all. If they are going to do that, they should remove the 'purchase/buy' button and replace it with a 'rent' button. They use the word 'buy', its mine forever.

[mrklaw]

How often does this happen? ngcomo announced they were shutting down Eliminate a few days back...although it is F2P and they have removed it from the app store.

the tap pet zoo pet friends games do this sometimes - they try and persuade you to upgrade to their new game (which is idential apart from the title and a few images), then when that doesn't work they just stop working and tell you to get the new game. They're F2P so I don't understand why they bother. Maybe they just get to a point later in the game where most people don't need the stupid IAP coins so they force them to press the reset button.

[Log4Girlz]

I think that stands for Enormous Assholes.

[Vagabundo]

God I hate the corporate cheerleaders that pollute these threads. Shitty business practices are shitty business practices.

Saying that who knows what exactly this message means. It doesn't stop you from playing game at the moment.

[A Human Becoming]

With this and EA shutting down servers with online passes I'm very hesitant to buy products they make I want (like SSX).