SEGA has confirmed via a blog post that an unknown number of SEGA mobile titles will be removed from various services if they “no longer meet our standards.” The problem? SEGA won’t say which ones… odds are though that it’ll be poorly emulated titles, or those which got a poor rating or suffer from compatibility problems on modern OS systems and devices (looking at you, Sonic 4).
Games on the following services will be affected:
- App Store for Apple devices
- Google Play Store
- Samsung App Store
- Amazon App Store
You know, I’m sure that this was once a rumoured story, only it was with console Sonic games… now it’s a confirmed story but for mobile games instead.
Anyway, if you have already bought or downloaded these games then don’t fear – you will still be able to re-download them once they’re taken from off the store. This isn’t like the Playstation Network’s P.T. fiasco, where the game was removed entirely.
Sega’s full statement is as follows.
At SEGA we are committed to making fun, high-quality mobile games and it is with our fans’ best playing experience in mind that we announce the removal of a number of games from our back catalogue. It is important for us to ensure that all of our fans, regardless of platform or operating system, have a great playing experience and after evaluating our complete list of titles, we have determined that a number of them no longer meet our standards. As a result, we will be removing these titles from the App Store for Apple devices, the Google Play Store, the Samsung App Store and the Amazon App Store over the next few weeks. While we have nothing to announce at this time, given the right situation, these titles may return in an updated form.
If you have already purchased a game that is being removed from the store you will be able to continue to play it after it’s been taken down. It will remain in your purchased apps where you will be able to download it again if you delete it or acquire a new device until the game becomes incompatible with the latest phone operating systems or hardware.
Thank you to all our customers for sharing what they love about our games and helping us to continue to improve everything we make.
We’ll update you with what games are affected once we get the list.
Source: Sega Blog
So… do they want to move to mobile or don’t they?
Sounds more like they care about their reputation on the mobile department, which could mean they’re heading to that market in full force, I’m almost sure Sonic 4 and Sonic Jump Fever will be the first to go.
Also does anyone else thinks they should release games form other IPs for mobiles? Like Nights for example.
Cost to update software for new OS and systems Vs potential re sales says taking down games would save them money.
It’s just classic Sega laziness in action, I still have noname iOS apps I got back in 2009 that are still updated. Another possible reason is that the teams that worked on the genesis emulations aren’t around anymore, that still doesn’t explain why they never bothered to update Sonic 4 Ep2.
It’s really nothing to do with laziness and more to do with if it’s going to make them any money.
Cost to update an App from a company like Sega is somewhere in the region of $5000 depending on how they do the support ticket, then there’s a secondary cost to update/re host the app on some of the play stores.
So why update an ancient app and lose money in your first year and potentially second year when by the time you’ll see a return on the development investment, new OS and systems will be out and your compatibility update may now be worthless?
I’m sure the removal statement goes toward games that don’t sell well rather than just those that need to be updated. If a game just doesn’t sell, it might not even be worth an update and might be better off down from the market. If Rise of Lyric got a patch to fix its bugs, the game itself would still be dull so it wouldn’t help the sells much.
Where have you been? RoL was patched ages ago! o_o
I just hope they dont take off Sonic 2 for android. Im sure they wouldnt since its a popular title, but you never know.
Otherwise there arent that many SEGA games that I have/want on my devices. I wanted Super Monkey Ball but the game didnt work on my Kindle.
Interesting. Ha, watch them get rid of the Remastered versions of Sonic 1 and 2. That would piss a lot of people off.
I hope they keep Sonic 1, 2, and 4 on “Google Play”.
I actually got sonic runners and i live in California don’t ask how i got it i hope they don’t get rid of that game i like it
lol bye sonic 4
I’m still waiting for sonic runners to be release here in Oz so I can download it. And S3&K is that ever going to get release on mobile?!
It’s obvious from this statement that they’re removing games that don’t sell enough to be worth keeping on the market, yet people act like they’re going to get rid of their high-selling ones like Dash, Jump Fever and Sonic 1 & 2. Ignorant as usual.
Meh. Moble games are a waste of time.
I’m sure it will be a lot of the earlier mobile games that came out for iPod originally. That and any game that is just plain bad, aka most Sonic games…
“comparability”
You mean compatibility