Capcom has removed Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective from iOS’ purchase history.
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective released on iOS shortly after coming to the Nintendo DS. You play Sissel, or rather his ghost, and use ghost abilities to solve puzzles and investigate the mystery of who had you killed and why.
Ghost Trick has quite a lineage, boasting no less than Ace Attorney’s Shu Takumi as its lead developer. It also boasted a unique rotoscoping aesthetic, leading to some of the most gorgeous animation the DS has ever seen.
Ghost Trick on iOS was microtransactions based, letting you play the first two chapters for free than charging you for more. Unfortunately, the game ran into bugs when you tried to purchase chapters, because Capcom failed to catch up in compatibility updates. Rather than fix the issues, Capcom has chosen to stop selling the game.
However, removing it from purchase history is an overreaching action. Players who did purchase chapters but deleted the game from their devices can no longer re-download it.
Between this and Capcom neglecting to update Monster Hunter Freedom Unite for iOS9, it seems the publisher is demonstrating a lack of faith in Apple’s ecosystem. If you look at this and EA’s decision to remove their most venerable mobile games from iOS, it seems that mobile is not a reliable gaming market.
To put this in contrast, PC digital platforms Steam and GOGcom guarantee gamers will keep copies of their games, even when developers drop said games from their libraries, so long as they were purchased.
Did you buy Ghost Trick on iOS? Or have you felt the pain of other mobile games you bought getting delisted? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.
