Got Rockband for iOS? EA just revoked your User License Agreement.

Overheal

http://consumerist.com/2012/05/rock-band-for-iphone-game-will-self-destruct-in-29-days.html

Have you been thinking about shelling out $4.99 so you can play Rock Band on your iPhone? Don't. EA surprised users a few days ago with a notification that the game would no longer be playable after May 31, no matter when you bought it. Yes, you can still buy it today. And presumably until May 30.

It's the chipper tone of the message that's so annoying. "Thanks for rocking out with us!" it says. "Sorry we killed your game!" is what it doesn't say.
We're hearing that the game doesn't require a server to play, so a server shutdown can't be the reason. It was released in 2010, but is that a reason to shut off a game that customers have already paid for?
If you just purchased Rock Band, don't fret. Officially, all iTunes purchases are final, but there is a way around that. You can request a refund from the App Store for any purchase.
Wtf!? "Thanks", EA! [Reddit]

I love that company. So much.

Zero-Cool

Harmonix don't even know why there was an expiry date haha

Sarky

Oh EA, you card!

Squaredude

Good old EA.Always looking out for their customers.God I hate EA.

richymcdermott

Ea, winners of the worst company in the world award, i wonder why ? :rolleyes:

humanji

I wonder if it's anything to do with the rumoured buyout of EA? I can't imagnie how it could effect it though.

Antar Bolaeisk

It's okay, Rock Band 2 comes out in June so you can just buy the new one

(it doesn't really)

gizmo

Before we all start guzzling down the haterade there's one important thing to consider...

Earlier this year, EA pulled its Tetris iPad app off the iTunes store in favor of a new, enhanced version that customers would have to buy again to get its added updates, such as enhanced resolution for the new iPad.

The original version was still available on the cloud, it was just replaced with the new one on the store. This is, of course, different from the old version not working any more as is the case here.

The issue could be related to what the guy from Harmonix said in article on The Verge.

"My guess is that it has something to do with the MTV Games and EA logos that pop up when you load it. Since we are no longer partnered with them, I have no idea how that has affected projects like RB on iOS. But, as we've seen with the recent DLC delays, there's a lot of work being done behind the scenes now that Harmonix is independent and I wouldn't be surprised if this was related.

"Again, that's mostly guesswork, but I'm not at all familiar with the particulars of the partnership or how content is managed on iOS."

So yea, while the circumstances are a bit different than in the Tetris case, it may be worth waiting to see what EA have to say about it.

EDIT: Seems they've updated their site with some more info.

I've heard Rock Band will not be available after May 31. Is this true?
Yes, we will be suspending support of Rock Band after May 31 and focusing resources on other EA titles. We thank everyone for playing Rock Band, and we encourage you to explore some of the other exciting titles in our mobile line-up.

Can I still play Rock Band if I've already downloaded it?
The Rock Band servers will be live through May 31, 2012. If you have already downloaded the game, you can continue to play until then.

It's certainly an odd one alright. Given that the app is probably still making money the most logical explanation is that there's some licencing shenanigans going on with the labels which is forcing EA's hand. I mean, the game can (supposedly) be played right now in airplane mode so how would the servers being switched off have any bearing on it?

calex71

If I recall there was also an issue getting DLC to PS3 in recent months as in it was suspended all together, I'll see if i can dig up the article likely unrelated to this.

http://www.rockband.com/forums/showthread.php?t=228496

My guess is that the iOS and other stuff came down to renewal of licensing agreements as they had either expired or other issues since they parted ways with MTV. Though that said EA have been shutting down servers for older games on a near monthly basis for the last few years on xbox / ps3 so this could be just part of that, I don't have an Iphone so don't know what features the game had but likely had DLC etc and Multiplayer ?

Edit: A close look at the screen shot in the OP confirms it had both multiplayer and dlc, so it's part of the no regular shut down of servers by EA nothing more to it than that I'd say.


Any way dlc is back up as of yesterday for PS3.

gizmo

According to a user on rockbandaide the game is perfectly playable with airplane mode engaged so EA could shut the servers off without disabling access to the entirety of the app.

Hell even if it came down to a licencing issue they could always just stop selling it on the AppStore but allow people to keep using it once downloaded. They seem to be actually making an effort to shut the whole thing down which is unusual, even for them.

richymcdermott

gizmo wrote: »

According to a user on rockbandaide the game is perfectly playable with airplane mode engaged so EA could shut the servers off without disabling access to the entirety of the app.

Hell even if it came down to a licencing issue they could always just stop selling it on the AppStore but allow people to keep using it once downloaded. They seem to be actually making an effort to shut the whole thing down which is unusual, even for them.

gizmo , we are cool ya know , like brothers .. but you crazy to think EA are not corrupt .. comon now

kickarykee

EA stopped being a decent game developer like 10 years ago ...
No surprise here.
I really just don't understand why they do this - just let people dl everything to their devices and have them "rock on" offline...
Maybe it's a DRM problem, though - bet they purchased the user rights for the songs for no longer than up until May 31st 2012 ^^

jaykhunter

Is......is this legal?

How can they forceably take back a game you paid for? I can understand cancelling a server for an online game, the game still 'works' but you can't connect to a server, but this is an offline game.

What a dick move. I'm waiting for reality to hit this news article. Incredible stuff.

gizmo

richymcdermott wrote: »

gizmo , we are cool ya know , like brothers .. but you crazy to think EA are not corrupt .. comon now

Nope, I don't think they're corrupt. I think they like money. This app, I assume, makes money so why would they go to the bother of not only pulling it from the AppStore (rather than just pulling the plug on the servers) but also disabling the use of the single player functionality?

Is it to do with licencing? If so, what kind of clause would force them to do this?
Are they just not bothered paying royalties (if they are required) to the labels for future purchases?
Are they just trying to focus their userbase on the sequel, Rock Band Reloaded?
Are they allowed to pull access to the multiplayer side of things and keep the app on the AppStore with releasing an update to specifically disable it client-side?
Can they pull the app from the AppStore without triggering the ability to remotely disable the app on customers phones?

These are the questions I'd like to have answers to before I start mindlessly hurling abuse at them.

That being said, if there is any evidence of EA doing this just to suit themselves then a campaign should be organised whereby as many people as possible who have bought the game apply for a refund and screw them to the god damn wall.

johnny_ultimate

kickarykee wrote: »

EA stopped being a decent game developer like 10 years ago ...
No surprise here.

Firstly, it's necessary to stress EA is predominantly a publisher, which is a relatively important distinction, although it does have developer wings. In this case, Harmonix co-developed the game with EA Montreal (who I'm sure are nice people) and published by EA and MTV.

Secondly, they have become a vastly superior developer / publisher than they were 10 years ago in various important respects, although sometimes you wonder how all the good they've done gets drowned out in torrents of rabid Internet rage.

We're quick to jump down their throats without the reasons why this is happening. Based on blind hearsay, it seems to me like a complete dick move, but I'd also like to hear the 'logic' or at least illogical reasons behind it before passing harsh judgement.

The thing about Rock Band is that its almost unique in the amount of artistic and legal collaborations going on. The rights have not only been ****ed up something fierce by MTV and EA's separation from Harmonix, but we're also forgetting that the horrible, horrible web of music rights creates yet another very expensive complication in this noxious stew of complicated contracts and rights ownership. So while I'm not entirely ruling out the possibility that this wasn't solely part of EA's continued plan to mentally and physically abuse every gamer in the known universe, I'm just proposing that perhaps there are some extremely complicated / costly legal rumblings occuring that we are not yet privy to, and may never be. And given that Rock Band iOS (last I checked, may have changed since) wasn't actually released in Ireland (at least), I'm guessing there were some serious rights issues there from the off. Long-time Rock Band players like myself may recall the fact that we couldn't import certain songs between games due to these very same issues. Maybe this is some even more restrictive advancement of that.

Or maybe EA just want you to buy a sequel and loads of DLC. Who knows? No-one yet, that's for sure.

Not ruling out the possibility that EA are actually just being a bunch of grumpy ol' bastards here. But just not ruling out the equally persuasive possibility that they might, you know, have a reason for this.

Retr0gamer

I really hope that if the game is blocked after the date it's entirely illegal and that there's a court case over it. A publisher should not have the right to totally take away your right to play a game you purchased even if it is a digital license. If it's still playable to customers who have already paid for it then fair enough.

calex71

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I really hope that if the game is blocked after the date it's entirely illegal and that there's a court case over it. A publisher should not have the right to totally take away your right to play a game you purchased even if it is a digital license. If it's still playable to customers who have already paid for it then fair enough.

There is likely something in the EULA to cover them along the line of "we reserve the right to ... at any time...screw you "

johnny_ultimate

Sure the Mass Effect 3 EULA give EA the rights to your first born child for 'the purposes of evil and/or potentially deadly product testing', but everyone was too busy giving out about the crap ending to pay any attention to it.

Overheal

calex71 wrote: »

There is likely something in the EULA to cover them along the line of "we reserve the right to ... at any time...screw you "

Interestingly though I'm not sure how EULAs work on apps now that you bring it up like that. Like where is the EULA for gasbuddy?

gizmo

Update from EA

So it turns out not be true or, it was true, they did a rather large U-turn.

So, in light of this, I'd imagine it wasn't a licencing issue. So that means either they were being dicks for no discernible reason or the message was intended to highlight the fact that the multiplayer servers were being turned off rather than the app becoming non-functional.

Retr0gamer

calex71 wrote: »

There is likely something in the EULA to cover them along the line of "we reserve the right to ... at any time...screw you "

You can write what you want in an EULA but it doesn't mean it has any legal basis. It might be a legally binding document granting you a license to use software, it isn't however a legally binding document where you can add whatever you like that completely infringes your consumer rights although a lot of software companies think they can do this.

gizmo

Retr0gamer wrote: »

You can write what you want in an EULA but it doesn't mean it has any legal basis. It might be a legally binding document granting you a license to use software, it isn't however a legally binding document where you can add whatever you like that completely infringes your consumer rights although a lot of software companies think they can do this.

An article just went up on Eurogamer about just this.

Retr0gamer

Will have to read it when I get home, blocked in work.

Overheal

You say that Retr0, but have you been following the Binding Arbitration situation in the United States?

Retr0gamer

Overheal wrote: »

You say that Retr0, but have you been following the Binding Arbitration situation in the United States?

Nope, new to me. Got any links?

Overheal

of course

http://consumerist.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-search.cgi?IncludeBlogs=1&limit=20&search=binding+arbitration

http://consumerist.com/2012/04/turns-out-that-forcing-customers-into-arbitration-is-not-good-for-consumers.html

http://consumerist.com/2011/12/microsoft-makes-gamers-promise-never-to-sue-it-after-xbox-update.html

Retr0gamer

Overheal wrote: »

of course

http://consumerist.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-search.cgi?IncludeBlogs=1&limit=20&search=binding+arbitration

http://consumerist.com/2012/04/turns-out-that-forcing-customers-into-arbitration-is-not-good-for-consumers.html

http://consumerist.com/2011/12/microsoft-makes-gamers-promise-never-to-sue-it-after-xbox-update.html

That's some really slimy corporate BS right there. I'm pretty sure it will be changed soon enough. The good thing is that those clauses of not being able to sue or bring class action cases against a company don't hold any weight outside america. Even in america I'm not sure it's legal, your consumer and legal rights trump anything you agree to in a contract if it infringes on it in most cases.

Read the Eurogamer article. EA were right to back track because what they were trying to do would have put them in major legal trouble.

Varik

Retr0gamer wrote: »

That's some really slimy corporate BS right there. I'm pretty sure it will be changed soon enough. The good thing is that those clauses of not being able to sue or bring class action cases against a company don't hold any weight outside america. Even in america I'm not sure it's legal, your consumer and legal rights trump anything you agree to in a contract if it infringes on it in most cases.

Read the Eurogamer article. EA were right to back track because what they were trying to do would have put them in major legal trouble.

This all came after a lower court in America said it was not binding but afterwards the supreme court said it was, that's why all those companies have started to add it in the last year.

And if the contract is void the you don't have a licence for the game then the company can't hold you to anything but you also no longer have a licence to use it.

Retr0gamer

Yes but the company also has to refund otherwise it's fraud.

Varik

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Yes but the company also has to refund otherwise it's fraud.

It would be the retailer in most cases, whether that's itunes/Steam or a B&M shop.

Instances like this are one of the reason that digital distribution is much better suited for what's needed of it, while people are pissed at origin for existing EA do handle returns and issues well and unlike B&M shops who would be required to give a refund on a product they can not resell and likely not expect any refund from the publisher. That's if the shop does give anything back as the what they sold was fine.

Mark Hamill

HOW exactly would EA have done this, if they had followed through? Completely stop everyone from playing the game? Surely if it works on airplane mode, you could have just ignored any updates after 31st may and continued playing?