RockBandAide reports that Electronic Arts’ Rock Band for the iPhone and iPod touch will be shutting down at the end of this month. Originally released in October 2009, the original Rock Band has not seen an update since November 2010, shortly before the release of the Rock Band Reloaded sequel, suggesting that EA was placing its focus on the newer version. A mobile adaptation of the popular console game, Rock Band included 32 songs with the option to purchase additional premium tracks via in-app purchase for $1 each, allowing players to invest considerably more money in the game beyond the original $5 purchase price.
Players now see a message upon launching the app indicating that “Rock Band will no longer be playable on your device” after May 31st. EA’s own Service Updates page does indicate that “Connected features” for a number of products will be discontinued on May 28, 2012, including “Rock Band for Android, iPhone, Palm and feature phones,” but makes no reference to the usability of the game in general. Rock Band for iOS does not require an online connection to play, however the message stating that it will “no longer be playable” suggests that the game will be disabled entirely rather than merely losing access to its online features such as music purchases and leaderboards. While there do not appear to be any technical reasons that would require the game to stop working entirely, it has been speculated that the expiry of licensing agreements for music within the app may be a factor.
Notably, the original Rock Band remains on sale on the App Store for $5 with nothing in its description suggesting an impending shutdown of the game or even any aspect of its online components. [via Touch Arcade]