So get this, after winning Worst Company in America by The Consumerist, and then being pelted by angry Mass Effect 3 fans over rushing BioWare out of the gate with a half-arsed ending, and then being caught peddling DLC without Child's Play permission, and then being called out for their grotesquely obese marketing tactics, and then being tied to a PR damage control agenda using homophobic protests to save face, EA has gone and done something no one thought they would do: charge you for a game that will no longer exist.
NeoGaf spotted the find on the official Rockband forums. Shortly thereafter gamer rage kicked into play and the whole thing blew up on Reddit. Of course, there's still a bunch of homegrown apologists who just don't get it, still defending EA like they really give a monkey's hairy gonad sack about you and your gaming habits, but the fact of the matter is clear: RockBand for the iOS platform(s) will no longer be available or accessible starting May 31st. However, the game is still being sold on the iTunes App Store with *No* mention about the game's service closure.
Much like angry consumers who found out about the Street Fighter X Tekken disc-locked content, some iOS users have taken to the review page and expressed their anger about the situation especially noting that if you went to the digital store to pick up a copy of the $4.99 game you would not be warned about the impending forfeiture of function beginning May 31st.
As reported by Side Mission, the EA Support staff acknowledge the game's death on mobile phones, saying...
"Yes, we will be suspending support of ROCK BAND after May 31 and focusing resources on other EA titles," reads the support FAQ. "We thank everyone for playing ROCK BAND, and we encourage you to explore some of the other exciting titles in our mobile line-up.""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."
Oh yeah, awesome.
How about to be a little less douchy about it, have the game removed from the App Store first, or at least give it away for free and then announce the closure date. This way people don't head there unknowingly, buy the game for $5 and then once they try to play find out they have less than a month to access the app.
I'm sure a bunch of anti-consumerists out there will once again hop to the defense of EA as this news spreads like wildfire, but let it be known...it doesn't matter how many Southeast Asian marketers EA pays to troll on their behalf, the righteous anger of gamers and radical fury of wrathful consumers will continue to rise up against Electronic Arts like the bubbling puss of acne on the face of a hormone-driven teenager.
