[Update]
It's clearly been a bit of a crazy day over at THQ and LucasArts. When we posted earlier today, both companies had confirmed that the Star Wars Arcade game would be pulled from the App Store by the end of the day tomorrow. The fate of the entire Star Wars games franchise in the App Store was uncertain. Then, they deemed that all Star Wars games would need to be pulled from the App Store. But not long after that, THQ and LucasArts did a complete 180 and decided that no Star Wars games at all would be pulled from the store. Um...what?
The games creative director, Josh Shabtai, who was quoted in the original story below lamenting the death of his game, was again quoted by Kotaku saying the game had received a "temporary reprieve." The article says he speculates that the coverage of the game's death led to LucasArts and THQ deciding to keep the game up.
If any new updates arrive on this story we'll be sure to post them here. Hopefully there weren't too many people who rushed to the App Store to pick up this soon-to-be collector's item. It's a fairly fun game though, so it's not a total loss.
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One of the more unique Star Wars games that has ever reached that App Store is about to be pulled forever according to reports. This augmented reality game will apparently be one of the victims of THQ's inability to renew their licensing deal with Star Wars overlords, Lucasfilm.
The full title of the game is Star Wars Arcade: Falcon Gunner [iTunes Link], and it may be lost forever after March 31, so if you're at all interested in this title, or if you're a collector of rare apps then you should snatch this one up quickly before it's gone. The game is classified as an augmented reality game because the iPhone's camera provides the background environment. From there you fight off tie fighters and Imperial gunships as they attack from whatever environment you're looking at.
It's theoretically possible that the agreements could be renewed sometime down the road and the game will be put back in the store, but the game's creator doesn't seem to be counting on it. Josh Shabtai, creative director on Falcon Gunner wrote in a blog post that he was thrilled to see his 27-year-old dream of making a Star Wars game come to life.
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't sad," said Shabtai. "Especially when I knew what we had planned: An awesome iPad 2 version. An Android version. Visual interaction in AR mode. And last but not least, a Battle of Endor update[...]But anyway. We had a good run. We got to make a friggin' Star Wars game! And even cooler, more immersive things are yet to come from Vertigore."
R.I.P. Star Wars Arcade: Falcon Gunner -- November 18, 2010 - March 31, 2011
