The original 2009 “Angry Birds” game is being delisted from Android and the Google Play Store from today, and will be renamed to the more obscure “Red’s First Flight” on iOS and the Apple App Store.
In a statement earlier this week on Twitter, developer Rovio says the action is being taken because the game’s popularity is impacting its “wider games portfolio”.
Rovio has released 23 games in the “Angry Birds” franchise and it remains a very important IP for the company. The issue here is economics – the newest iterations of the franchise are all free-to-play live service games with numerous microtransactions.
The older titles on the other hand are single-player one-off purchases – no microtransactions or ads – and thus don’t generate as much revenue for the company. As a result they want players to stick to the more modern titles in the series.
The first game, which was temporarily delisted in 2019 before returning last year under the new name “Rovio Classics: Angry Birds,” sells for $0.99. The original game will remain playable on devices on which the game has been downloaded, even after it has been unlisted.
The franchise has also yielded eleven TV series and two major studio animated features.
Source: VGC
