News

Critter Crunch for iPhone reappears on App Store

But it's got a different publisher

Critter Crunch for iPhone reappears on App Store

A few weeks ago, iPhone puzzler Critter Crunch abruptly disappeared from the App Store. It vanished, with no explanation.

Had Apple taken it down for an unspecified violation of the App Store rules? Had its publisher, Publisher X, removed it for another reason? What was going on?

Well, Critter Crunch is now back on the App Store, in both full-fat and lite-demo versions. And the fact that Publisher X is no longer listed as its publisher hints at possible licensing reasons.

See, on mobile phones, Critter Crunch was developed by Capybara Games, and published by Disney Mobile. It was even called Disney Presents: Critter Crunch on some portals.

The iPhone version was also developed by Capybara, yet published by Publisher X. But since reappearing on the App Store, the publisher is listed as Starwave Mobile. Which is a separate division of Disney.

We assume that means Mickey Mouse turning up at Publisher X with a shotgun and a contract (probably). Still, the main thing is that Critter Crunch, which is excellent, is now available again for iPhone owners.

Oh, there's one problem. If you bought the original version, the new game doesn't seem to be recognised as an upgrade to it by iTunes.

Meaning if it gets any significant feature upgrades in the future, people who bought it first time round will have to shell out again.

Stuart Dredge
Stuart Dredge
Stuart is a freelance journalist and blogger who's been getting paid to write stuff since 1998. In that time, he's focused on topics ranging from Sega's Dreamcast console to robots. That's what you call versatility. (Or a short attention span.)