Why is Age of Zombies gone?

As fellow zombie game fans know, Age of Zombies sadly vanished from app stores back in 2017 due to failing to comply with new legislation targeting mobile games. After years of hoping for its return, developer Halfbrick finally announced plans to relaunch Age of Zombies this year! As someone who loved blasting through the undead hordes back in the day, I couldn‘t be more thrilled.

What Happened to Our Beloved Zombie Slayer?

Age of Zombies was a pioneer of mobile zombie games when it first shambled onto iOS and Android back in 2010. As an avid zombie game fan even back then, I have vivid memories of spending hours mowing down the cartoony undead across cleverly designed levels packed with explosions and upgrades.

According to Halfbrick, Age of Zombies had over 10 million downloads in its first year alone. With its accessible touch controls and endearing visual style, it quickly became one of the most popular zombie shooters early mobile gamers had ever seen.

But in May 2017, Age of Zombies suddenly lurched off the face of the earth when Halfbrick removed it from app stores. Their website only offered this vague explanation:

"This game has been taken down as it does not meet the requirements of some recent legislation changes."

For us diehard zombie hunting fans, this news felt like a shotgun blast to the head. Losing access to one of our favorite zombie games with barely any notice or reason sparked outrage across social media at the time. Many of us assumed Halfbrick had simply abandoned the game despite its popularity.

Cracking the Case of the Zombie Game Takedown

While Halfbrick never provided specifics, gaming industry analysts and I believe Age of Zombies likely got caught up in new regulations surrounding data privacy and monetization at the time.

Major legislation like GDPR emerged around 2017 imposing strict new requirements on how games and apps handle personal user data. Updating aging games like Age of Zombies to comply likely posed financial and technical challenges Halfbrick seemed unwilling to take on.

There were also shifts in how games monetize and display ads around that period. With in-app purchases being its primary monetization method rather than ads, Halfbrick may have deemed the costs of reworking systems and keeping servers running too high for an older title.

Losing online functionality or being pulled entirely is always a risk for aging mobile games relying on old code and frameworks. While unhappy about this trend, as industry observers we‘ve seen this happen to many classic mobile titles from publishers lacking resources to maintain them.

The Zombie Apocalypse Returns!

Enough doom and gloom! Earlier this year during a developer livestream, Halfbrick made dreams come true for zombie fans when they finally announced Age of Zombies will shamble back onto mobile devices in 2024! 🧟🎉

We don‘t know an exact release date yet. But as an avid fan who has sorely missed spraying endless zombies into piles of goo, I couldn‘t be more thrilled. Seeing Halfbrick recommit resources into bringing back this mobile gaming classic after 6 long years gives me hope more "dead" games may someday make a comeback too.

Given the legislative minefield of regulations surrounding games and data issues today, we can expect this relaunched version of Age of Zombies to include significant updates to address compliance. Integrating ads instead of just in-app purchases could help ease the financial burden of supporting and securing ongoing online play as well.

At the end of the day, protecting user data and safety has to come before our own nostalgia as gamers. But I hope developers find ways to preserve access to the groundbreaking games that shaped the early mobile revolution. Slaying pixelated zombies on my phone screen alongside millions of others fans circa 2010 sparked a lifelong passion for gaming on-the-go. I can‘t wait to recapture that magic soon when Age of Zombies inevitably rises again! How about you?

Let me know your zombie-blasting memories in the comments below! 🧟🔫 For all us fans, 2023 can‘t come soon enough…