Will Mobile Games Stand The Test of Time?

On the 26th of September, EA announced that The Simpsons: Tapped Out would be removed from digital storefronts by the 31st of October and permanently shutting down after the 25th of January 2025. After 12 years, the countless hours millions of players put into building their perfect towns will be gone forever.

Whilst this is sad news for regular players and even those who haven’t picked up the game in years, the idea of a well-loved game being lost forever is something that’s becoming all too familiar these days. 

Back in 2014, the creator or the viral game Flappy Bird Dong Nguyen, took the game off the App Store, meaning to this day the only way to play it is if you downloaded the game before it was removed. 

In our digital present, the ease in which we can download different games and experiences also comes with the cost of them being taken away from us years down the line. 

Online service games demand continually high numbers of players and anything less than what’s expected means a risk of the whole game being pulled down.

But this isn’t always the case. In August, Nintendo announced that they would be ending service for Animal Crossing Pocket Camp after 7 years. While online service for the mobile game will be ending in November, Nintendo plans to release an offline version beforehand so the game won’t be gone completely.

As we continue to rely more upon the internet for our sources of entertainment, whether or not the games we love will stand the test of time seems out of our hands.