“First of all, we want to thank you and all the Pandemic players for your loyalty and support over time. Unfortunately, we are taking the Pandemic app off the stores. We have worked hard over 4 years on Pandemic and withdrawing it from the stores has not been an easy choice. This decision was made with a heavy heart for a multitude of reasons that we cannot disclose.
For now, only PC, App Store & Google Play has been removed. Microsoft version will follow Jan 31th 2022 and then Nintendo Switch by the end of July 2022.”
Rank speculation, but some sort of IP dispute?
Could be, but Asmodee has the TM for the usual targets for this sort of thing so they should be ok on that front (e.g. IC 009 for downloadable game software and IC 041 for on-line board game, etc). Then again I should know better - there are plenty of other IP landmines out there…
We may not ever know I guess, if it’s in some sort of legal black hole.
Maybe someone decided the game was too topical these days? I know we’ve put away the game, the last few years.
I suspect they finally realized it’s just not a very good boardgame design and pulled it because they were embarrassed.
-Tom
:)
Seriously, though, I get why Pandemic is so widely liked. And it really does deserve props for kickstarting the boardgame renaissance into high gear and establishing the popularity of co-op and solitaire gaming. I hope we’ll find out what’s going on with the digital version, if only because now I’m wondering about the licensing deal for other boardgame ports and whether they’ll abruptly collapse as well.
-Tom