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Appocalypse - Here's every game that has vanished from the App Store recently

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Appocalypse - Here's every game that has vanished from the App Store recently

A lot of iOS games have gone missing lately and it's breaking our little hearts.

They're not just being pulled from the App Store, either. Many of them are being removed from your 'Purchased' list so you can't download them any longer.

There seem to be two main reasons why this is happening.

1) Firstly, the recent arrival of iOS 9 has meant that some games need tweaking to work on it. Some studios have removed these games while they try to fix them.

2) Publishers have been retiring the older games in their catalogues. This means they can focus their staff on creating new and hopefully more engaging games.

Rather than brush this off and forget about all those games, we'd like to try to remember them, and track the ones due to make a return.

To this end we've produced a mass list of all the iOS games that have gone missing in recent months.

Oh, and before we jump to it, remember to back up your downloaded games before they vanish forever.

Telltale Games The Walking Dead: The Game

Telltale removed all of its games from the App Store apart from Game of Thrones and Tales from the Borderlands.

Luckily, if you already bought them, you can still download these games from your 'Purchased' list.

We don't yet know why these games were removed but we've asked Telltale and hope to find out.

Here's the full list:

Disney The Secret of Monkey Island

Disney retired loads of its older smartphone games in order to provide better ones going forward.

This doesn't necessarily mean that these games have been pulled from sale on the App Store. But it does mean that Disney won't be updating them or providing support for them.

It's a big list of games so head over here to see them all.

The notable ones include The Secret of Monkey Island, Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, Tiny Death Star, and Star Wars Assault Team.

EA Dead Space

In September, EA removed many of its older games so it could focus on "developing new and exciting titles."

The full lists are here and here if you want to check them out.

Otherwise, the games we'll miss the most include Flight Control, Mass Effect Infiltrator, Dead Space, Real Racing, and Spore Origins.

Konami Metal Gear Solid Touch

Konami also removed loads of its older smartphone games in September. This was due to not wanting to update them for new versions of iOS.

You can see the full list of those here. But the significant absences include Metal Gear Solid Touch, Silent Hill: The Escape, Crayon Physics Deluxe, and Bomberman Touch.

SEGA Jet Set Radio

Way back in May, Sega was among the first this year to remove a bunch of its older games. And it was a lot of them, too.

It wasn't only old smartphone games either, but many of Sega's classic Mega Drive ports, such as Altered Beast, Ecco the Dolphin, Golden Axe, and Streets of Rage.

The reason given for this was due to these games apparently not meeting Sega's standards any longer.

You can see the full list of games here but here are the ones that hurt the most (excluding the Mega Drive classics):

BioShock BioShock

2K Games removed BioShock from the App Store back in July as it was incompatible with iOS 8.4.

Then, in September, BioShock was removed from peoples' 'Purchased' lists so it couldn't even be downloaded.

However, it will apparently make a return to the App Store once 2K has fixed it for iOS 9. Let's hope that's the case.

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective has been on and off the App Store more times than you've got in and out of bed. Okay, that's an exaggeration. But you get the point.

Capcom has had a lot of problems with bugs inside the game that render it unplayable.

Last we knew, Ghost Trick had been fixed for iOS 8 at long last. But, more recently, Capcom has entirely removed from 'Purchased' lists.

We don't know why yet. It might have something to do with iOS 9, perhaps.

SpaceChem SpaceChem

Zachtronics removed its puzzler SpaceChem from the App Store and 'Purchased' lists as it was incompatible with iOS 9.

We also found out that Zachtronics's developer license had expired at around the same time. So it was a double whammy.

SpaceChem should return once Zachtronics has it fixed for iOS 9. So keep an eye out for it.
Chris Priestman
Chris Priestman
Anything eccentric, macabre, or just plain weird, is what Chris is all about. He turns the spotlight on the games that fly under the radar.