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Disney Torpedoes Tiny Death Star Without Alerting Developer Nimblebit In Advance
Disney has removed two Star Wars titles from the Apple and Google storefronts after both were in service for less than a year. Both Tiny Death Star (a partnership with Nimblebit) and Star Wars Assault Team are no longer available.
Tiny Death Star was introduced in November 2013 (eleven months ago) and Star Wars Assault team launched at the end of March 2014 (just over six months ago). Disney confirmed to Game Informer that both titles have been removed in order to focus on priority titles like the Clash of Clans-like Star Wars Commander.
Developer Nimblebit, who partnered with Disney on Tiny Death Star has indicated that it was unaware of the move prior to the game disappearing from storefronts. A Disney representative could not confirm whether Nimblebit had been contacted prior to the game’s removal. However, Marsh tells us bluntly that he and his team were not made aware.
"We're very disappointed to see Tiny Death Star shuttered less than a year after launch," Marsh told us via email. "We had no prior knowledge that the game would be removed and no longer even have a contact at Disney after the recent layoffs. Suffice to say if you're a developer looking to partner with Disney this might not be the partnership you're looking for."
[Source: Pocket Gamer]
Our Take
While it’s not uncommon for service-based games to disappear with little notice, Disney’s failure to alert Nimblebit is the wrong message to send to a partner and a warning about how the company views partnership. Then there are the players to consider. Both of these games were free-to-play, which means some users spent money in and just watched that investment (albeit sunk cost) vanish without warning.
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