Earlier this week, game publisher EA announced that it will be removing its Tetris apps from the App Store on April 21, 2020. EA did not provide a reason for this move, but it appears to be related to a licensing change.

tetris n3twork
As part of a multi-year agreement with The Tetris Company, game developer N3TWORK today announced that it has released an all-new Tetris app on the App Store for iPhone and iPad. The app features a traditional solo gameplay experience, both online and offline, and will be updated with new gameplay modes in the future.

The new Tetris app is free to download worldwide, excluding China and New Zealand, with an optional $4.99 in-app purchase to remove ads.

Top Rated Comments

Juicy Box Avatar
77 months ago

Out of curiosity, the first time you went to a bar early in life and paid $5 for your first beer ever, you probably enjoyed it for about a half hour before it was empty. Then when you asked the bar tender for a refill and they said, "That will be another $5", were you raged with anger and said, "I already paid $5, so I want free refills for the rest of my life"?

It's funny how people put a price on things they enjoy. For some, they will pay hundreds or thousands over a span of 4 or 5 years for beer, but if an app they equally enjoy does a one time charge of $5 for the same span of time, they freak out.
It is as simple as durable good versus consumable good.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durable_good
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumables


Until recently, almost all video games were considered durable goods. With the rise of digital media, a long with the bubblegum-like mobile game industry, video games are now becoming more consumable in nature.


It's funny how people put a price on things they enjoy.
If video games were always a consumable good, there probably wouldn't be any complaining, but when people used to be able to buy a video game and continue to use it indefinitely, and now you could buy a game today and tomorrow it could be pulled from the apps store or an iOS update can break the game, this understandably irks people.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Labeno Avatar
77 months ago

So another multi-year agreement, $5 to remove ads, and the need to re-do this all over again in a few years since we won't actually own the game.
I feel I need to respond, and I'm not trying to create a controversy, but just making an observation of something that perplexes me.

Out of curiosity, the first time you went to a bar early in life and paid $5 for your first beer ever, you probably enjoyed it for about a half hour before it was empty. Then when you asked the bar tender for a refill and they said, "That will be another $5", were you raged with anger and said, "I already paid $5, so I want free refills for the rest of my life"?

It's funny how people put a price on things they enjoy. For some, they will pay hundreds or thousands over a span of 4 or 5 years for beer, but if an app they equally enjoy does a one time charge of $5 for the same span of time, they freak out.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
herocero Avatar
77 months ago
I can’t wait for their exclusivity to end so in the future I have the opportunity to buy this game a third time ... pass.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
martyjmclean Avatar
77 months ago
Ah this one looks much better than the EA one!
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Pakaku Avatar
77 months ago
Meh, at this point I'll just stick with some form of the game that won't expire, like Tetris on NES
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
darkslide29 Avatar
77 months ago

Well... nobody's forcing you to dump your currently installed version? Alternatively you can buy a gameboy :p

IMO it's basically a Russian scam though.
As a matter of fact, they kind of are forcing us to dump the currently installed version. According to the original story (https://www.macrumors.com/2020/01/21/ea-tetris-ios-retiring-april-2020/), they are going to flip a switch and the game is going to stop working entirely, even on already-installed devices.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iOS 26

iOS 26.4 and iOS 27 Features Revealed in New Leak

Friday December 12, 2025 10:56 am PST by
Macworld's Filipe Espósito today revealed a handful of features that Apple is allegedly planning for iOS 26.4, iOS 27, and even iOS 28. The report said the features are referenced within the code for a leaked internal build of iOS 26 that is not meant to be seen by the public. However, it appears that Espósito and/or his sources managed to gain access to it, providing us with a sneak peek...
apple beta 26 lineup

Apple Leak Confirms Work on Foldable iPhone, AirTag 2, and Dozens More Devices

Monday December 15, 2025 2:05 pm PST by
Last week, details about unreleased Apple devices and future iOS features were shared by Macworld. This week, we learned where the information came from, plus we have more findings from the leak. As it turns out, an Apple prototype device running an early build of iOS 26 was sold, and the person who bought it shared the software. The OS has a version number of 23A5234w, and the first...
Apple Logo Top Half

Early iOS 26 Software Leak Uncovers Dozens of Upcoming Apple Features

Monday December 15, 2025 3:05 pm PST by
Software from an iPhone prototype running an early build of iOS 26 leaked last week, giving us a glimpse at future Apple devices and iOS features. We recapped device codenames in our prior article, and now we have a list of some of the most notable feature flags that were found in the software code. In some cases, it's obvious what the feature flags are referring to, while some are more...
Apple Foldable Thumb

Leak Reveals Foldable iPhone Details

Monday December 15, 2025 9:09 am PST by
The first foldable iPhone will feature a series of design and hardware firsts for Apple, according to details shared by the Weibo leaker known as Digital Chat Station. According to a new post, via machine translation, Apple is developing what the leaker describes as a "wide foldable" device, a term used to refer to a horizontally oriented, book-style foldable with a large internal display....
iOS 26

iOS 26.3 Beta 1 Features: What's New So Far

Monday December 15, 2025 4:23 pm PST by
Apple is testing iOS 26.3, the next version of iOS 26 that will launch around January. Since iOS 26.3's testing is happening over the holidays, it is a smaller update with fewer features than we've seen in prior betas. We've rounded up what's new so far, and we'll add to our list with subsequent betas if we come across any other features. Transfer to Android Apple is making it simpler...
iOS 26

Apple Releases iOS 26.2 With Alarms for Reminders, Lock Screen Changes, Enhanced Safety Alerts and More

Friday December 12, 2025 10:10 am PST by
Apple today released iOS 26.2, the second major update to the iOS 26 operating system that came out in September, iOS 26.2 comes a little over a month after iOS 26.1 launched. ‌iOS 26‌.2 is compatible with the ‌iPhone‌ 11 series and later, as well as the second-generation ‌iPhone‌ SE. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones over-the-air by going to Settings >...
iOS 26

iOS 26.2 Coming Soon With These 8 New Features on Your iPhone

Thursday December 11, 2025 8:49 am PST by
Apple seeded the second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to developers earlier this week, meaning the update will be released to the general public very soon. Apple confirmed iOS 26.2 would be released in December, but it did not provide a specific date. We expect the update to be released by early next week. iOS 26.2 includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, such as a new...
airpods max 2024 colors

AirPods Max 2 Likely to Offer These 10 New Features

Monday December 15, 2025 7:41 am PST by
Apple released the AirPods Max on December 15, 2020, meaning the over-ear headphones launched five years ago today. While the AirPods Max were updated with a USB-C port and new color options last year, followed by support for lossless audio and ultra-low latency audio this year, the headphones lack some of the features that have been introduced for newer generations of the regular AirPods and the ...