EA Removes 'Bejeweled 2', 'Flight Control' and Other Classic Titles from App Store

Friday September 11, 2015 9:53 AM PDT by Mitchel Broussard
It appears that EA has quietly removed a handful of classic iOS titles from the App Store, including games like Bejeweled 2, Flight Control, Real Racing, and more. The official removal of the games actually happened on September 1, but was just discovered overnight by our sister site Touch Arcade. The full list of games removed by EA includes:
electronic-arts
  • Bejeweled 2
  • Burnout™ CRASH!
  • Dead Space
  • Don't Fall Off
  • Flight Control
  • Flight Control Rocket
  • Fly With Me
  • Lemonade Tycoon
  • MASS EFFECT™ INFILTRATOR
  • MMA by EA SPORTS™
  • Need for Speed Shift
  • Real Racing
  • Sims Medieval by EA
  • Skate It by EA
  • Spore™ Creatures
  • Spore™ Origins
  • SPY Mouse

As the company mentions in the support document posted to its website, the move means that every game on the list won't be supported or updated moving forward, with the decision to focus its "efforts on developing new and exciting titles, as well as bringing new content and updates to existing popular games." Fortunately, if players still have the game downloaded to their iPhone, EA mentioned that users should still be able continue their game and play as normal.
...And now they're gone, along with other fabulous iOS games. They didn't even get a proper send off, beyond silently announcing they're being removed on a obscure web page hidden deep inside of EA's support site on the same day they were removed. I can't find anyone else reporting on this either, meaning this plan worked surprisingly well, as it's been ten days before we even figured out that these games were gone.
As Touch Arcade points out, about a year ago EA did the same thing with a slightly larger list of iOS games that included some well-known titles like Zuma's Revenge and Alice: Madness Returns. Although players with the games still installed don't have much to worry about, everyone else who may want to revisit any of these titles in the future are now out of luck.

Tags: App Store, EA
53 comments

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macduke
55 months ago
I own at least half of the games on this list. There will never be another time quite as great as those first few years on the App Store. Especially for gaming. That was before all of the in-app purchasing crap ruined everything. It's amazing how a few of those games weren't even EA back then. I used to play mobile games all of the time and they took up a lot of space on my devices. Now I just keep a few on my iPhone and a few more on my iPad, but nothing like I used to. I haven't bought any games in a really long time. I used to read Touch Arcade all of the time. I didn't stop because of any fault in the site. The writers were always awesome and the community was great. I just became less and less interested in the new titles pushing IAPs all the time.
Rating: 12 Votes
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Kajje
55 months ago

Playing games together is not a replacement for communication.

You can't just TALK all the time when you're married or live together with someone.
If you want to spend a lot of time together, you'll have to do more than that.

Glassed Silver:mac

Rating: 5 Votes
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Yellowbean12
55 months ago
Real Racing and Flight Control bring back fond memories...
Rating: 5 Votes
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keysofanxiety
55 months ago

I own at least half of the games on this list. There will never be another time quite as great as those first few years on the App Store. Especially for gaming. That was before all of the in-app purchasing crap ruined everything. It's amazing how a few of those games weren't even EA back then. I used to play mobile games all of the time and they took up a lot of space on my devices. Now I just keep a few on my iPhone and a few more on my iPad, but nothing like I used to. I haven't bought any games in a really long time. I used to read Touch Arcade all of the time. I didn't stop because of any fault in the site. The writers were always awesome and the community was great. I just became less and less interested in the new titles pushing IAPs all the time.


You're so right, you really are. It's a bitter irony that we're at a stage where we've got console-grade graphic capabilities on an iPhone, and yet all the games seem to be freemium shovelware. Yet when the App Store first came out, developers seemingly didn't have the same mentality.

If only the iPhone 5S hardware was released (or possible) in 2008. :D
Rating: 3 Votes
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Glassed Silver
55 months ago

You'll have to just, erm, y'know, talk to each other now :)

Playing games together is not a replacement for communication.

You can't just TALK all the time when you're married or live together with someone.
If you want to spend a lot of time together, you'll have to do more than that.

Glassed Silver:mac
Rating: 3 Votes
Avatar
madsci954
55 months ago
What EA says: "Efforts on developing new and exciting titles, as well as bringing new content and updates to existing popular games."

What EA means: "Yeah these games weren't making enough boatloads of cash for us, so we axed them."
Rating: 3 Votes
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macintologist
55 months ago
If I buy a new iOS device, will these titles not be available for redownload at all? Or are these just being removed from sale. My wife and I love playing Flight Control multiplayer.
Rating: 3 Votes
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tennisproha
55 months ago
The problem is if you've spent money to buy the game or in app purchases and don't currently have it on your phone, you've just lost that money.

I wonder in this is allowed under Apple's T&S.

UPDATE: Looks like if you've already purchased any of them, they still available in you Purchased history and download fine.
Rating: 3 Votes
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mw360
55 months ago

You'll have to just, erm, y'know, talk to each other now :)


No need for that, i was able to download and install Flight Control just now.
Rating: 2 Votes
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drumcat
55 months ago
If only they'd say "we're removing these in 48h", they'd make a boatload of money.... but EA makes a boatload anyhow, so meh.
Rating: 2 Votes
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