EA Killing Rock Band for iPhone, Game Will Be Unplayable for Current Owners [Updated]

EA is telling owners of Rock Band for iPhone that as of May 31, the game will "no longer be playable on your device." Most users probably expect that a game they paid $4.99 for -- and that is still on sale, with no suggestion that the game will be useless in a month -- wouldn't suddenly stop working, especially when Rock Band offers a number of song packs as in-app purchases.

At the very least you would think that EA would be able to just leave the original Rock Band alone, so those who bought it and paid for IAP songs can continue to at least use it even if future updates aren’t in the cards. Perhaps there’s a reason for this, like a licensing issue with the music, but at any rate if you’re still a fan of the first Rock Band on iOS you’ll have until May 31st to continue enjoying it.

Servers being shut down and dropping support for games isn’t a new phenomenon, but in the increasingly more digital age of video games you’ll just have to keep in mind that the experience might be finite unlike physical copies of games which will last for eternity as long as you have the hardware to play it.

Rock Band hasn't been updated since December of 2010, as its sequel, Rock Band Reloaded was released around the same time. EA's website for Rock Band for iPhone provides no indication that the game will be shut down.

Update: Polygon reports that EA has issued a statement claiming that the notification was sent in error.

"Rock Band for iOS will remain live – the in-app message users received yesterday was sent in error," the company said in a statement.

"We apologize for the confusion this caused. We're working to clarify the issue that caused the error and will share additional information as soon as possible."

It is unclear exactly what the "error" was given that an EA support document had also briefly referred to Rock Band being shut down at the end of the month, but EA says that it will be providing more information on the situation.