The first real money I ever made from game development was on Android. It was in 2013, when Android was still the underdog compared to the iPhone, and was being touted as a great platform for developers.
Disclaimer:
Even though the title says “my”, this is not my blogpost.
Maybe the whole abandonware thing applies to regular apps, but in my experience most games without microtransactions get updated for a bit when they’re released and then never again. Because there’s no reason to update your game once you’ve fixed all the bugs, unless you’re not adding new content.
I cannot tell you the number of times I’ve thought about a game that I used to like and looking for it on the Play Store, only to find out it’s been taken down and I have to go for an hour long search through sketchy sites to find it. It’s fine if you only play new games, but from my experience, the majority of old games are just not available, unless they’re made by a studio that’s still big enough to keep up with the requirements. For no good reason.
I would fully understand having a warning for old apps. They could even hide them from recommendations. But if I want to install an “abandoned” app, I should be able to.
Maybe the whole abandonware thing applies to regular apps, but in my experience most games without microtransactions get updated for a bit when they’re released and then never again. Because there’s no reason to update your game once you’ve fixed all the bugs, unless you’re not adding new content.
I cannot tell you the number of times I’ve thought about a game that I used to like and looking for it on the Play Store, only to find out it’s been taken down and I have to go for an hour long search through sketchy sites to find it. It’s fine if you only play new games, but from my experience, the majority of old games are just not available, unless they’re made by a studio that’s still big enough to keep up with the requirements. For no good reason.
I would fully understand having a warning for old apps. They could even hide them from recommendations. But if I want to install an “abandoned” app, I should be able to.