The original Angry Birds is being pulled from Google Play due to its business “impact” on developer Rovio’s other mobile games.
On iPhone, Angry Birds will stay available – albeit under a new and instantly-forgettable name: “Red’s First Flight”.
Why? In a statement, Rovio suggests the original Angry Birds is simply too popular, and that players are too happy to spend the app’s one-off 79p price rather than download the brand’s many free-to-play sequels and spin-offs which contain further microtransactions.
“We have reviewed the business case of Rovio Classics: Angry Birds, and due to the game’s impact on our wider games portfolio, we have decided that Rovio Classics: Angry Birds will be unlisted from the Google Play Store on Thursday, 23rd February,” a statement by Rovio posted to Twitter reads. “Additionally, the game will be renamed to Red’s First Flight in the App Store pending further review.