Sega Will Remove Unspecified Mobile Games From Apple, Google, Amazon And Samsung App Stores

Sega Sonic — The Sonic the Hedgehog character is seen behind a video game screen showing a Sega Corp logo at a game arcade in Tokyo. Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon

With the exception of Sony, recently Nintendo has joined Sega amongst the growing list of Japanese videogame makers focusing on mobile games. Sega had shifted its focus onto mobile games after it lost its grip on the mainstream console markets to the big players. However, at a time when everyone has been adding games to their mobile catalogues, Sega plans to cut down several mobile titles from its repertoire.

The motivation for Sega's curious decision to remove an unspecified number of games from its catalogue is more of a house cleaning endeavour, according to Eurogamer. The games are being removed to maintain a certain uniform degree of quality. Apparently, Sega believes that several of its own games don't meet its standard of quality. Mobiles games across platforms such as Apple App Store, Google Play Store, Amazon App Store and Samsung App Store will be getting the axe in the near future.

"It is important for us to ensure that all of our fans, regardless of platform or operating system, have a great playing experience and after evaluating our complete list of titles, we have determined that a number of them no longer meet our standards," wrote Sega while announcing the decision to axe some of its games on its official blog. "As a result, we will be removing these titles from the App Store for Apple devices, the Google Play Store, the Samsung App Store and the Amazon App Store over the next few weeks."

It must be noted that even if a game is removed, those who had purchased it will be able to keep playing as well as be allowed to download it in the future as well. The change will only affect future buyers. Even in that case, Sega states that the removal will not necessarily mean that the games will be gone forever. The company assures that the removed titles may return in the future in an updated form. The company, however, makes no assurances of carrying that promise out and puts the possibility of republishing axed games subject to the "right situation."

When contacted about the list of games planned to be removed for quality reasons, Sega declined to reveal specific names. However, it told Polygon that the decision applies mostly to legacy IPs. The company believes that the older titles from its catalogue ported over to the mobile platform don't hold up to its own standards. Polygon notes that some of Sega's older mobile games are ports of Sega Genesis titles such as "Altered Beast," "Virtua Fighter 2," "Golden Axe" and "Streets of Rage." It's possible that these legacy titles may be taken down for improvement.

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