Rovio, the developer of the Angry Birds, has announced that they will be taking down the original classic Angry Birds game – the one without ads and all with a one off price of RM5.49 – from the Google Play store, though the game isn’t going away just because it no longer supports newer devices or no one ever plays it, but Rovio claims that it has impacted their wider games portfolio.
Simply type Angry Birds on either Apple App Store or Google Play Store, you will find many of the company’s Angry Birds games mostly come with in-app purchases, though thankfully all of them don’t really force you into performing micro transactions unlike other games.
Interestingly, Rovio will still maintain the classic Angry Birds game on iOS, though it will be renaming it to Red’s First Flight, and this leads to the question of why it has to remove the game on Google Play instead of doing the same thing.
Here is an official statement from Rovio on the decision:
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, February 23. Additionally, the game will be renamed to Red’s First Flight in the App Store pending further review. Rovio Classics: Angry Birds will remain playable on devices on which the game has been downloaded, even after it has been unlisted.
We understand that 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.
So, if you own an Android device and want to keep the game for good instead of downloading APKs later, you might just want to purchase the game for good old nostalgia’s sake, as even after Rovio has totally remove the app thereafter, you should still be able to download the game from your app library since you have owned it.
Source: Twitter (Rovio), via The Verge