The original iPhone version of Rock Band is being turned off at the end of May, with owners suddenly receiving messages telling them the app will no longer work on their device.
The iPhone version of Rock Band is to be permanently switched off and become unplayable at the end of the month, according to messages received by owners - with no sign of any refund being offered.
The iPhone version of Rock Band was first released in October 2009, but yesterday owners of the game started receiving the above message whenever they tried to play it - after learning that the game is to be permanently disabled on May 31.
There doesn't seem to be any indication of this on EA's website or on iTunes, which is still happily selling the game for £2.99 despite knowing that it will stop working in less than a month.
As fans on the official Rock Band forums point out they’ve not only bought the original game but also downloadable content for it, potentially adding up to quite a sum.
This is of course the perfect example of why so many fear a download-only future: if you'd bought the game on a disc or cartridge, unless EA crept into your bedroom and stole it off you it would be yours forever.
That's not necessarily the case with downloadable games though. Although it's still not clear what's actually going on in this case - some theorise the licence for the songs could've run out or the error message actually only refers to the online store.
The more recent Rock Band Reloaded doesn't seem to be affected, as yet, but EA does have a history of turning off servers for older games after just a few years.
Of course with disc-based games turning off the server only disables the multiplayer - with a download game like this though it seems to be the whole game that will simply cease to exist.
