We all love a good blast on a classic retro game, and developer Yong Zhang is responsible for more than his fair share of the retro console emulators available on the Android Market. Or was. Google has removed his console emulators from Android Market in another of its seemingly draconian, anti-openness moves.
Many will see this as another attack by Google on its own prodigal son, but the fact is that with both Sony and Sega throwing their weight behind Android with a number of high profile launches, Google is more than likely loathe to battle any take-down requests from gaming’s big guns. Android is, after all, generally acknowledged as lagging behind iOS in the gaming stakes. Incidentally, Apple’s take on this is to allow only licensed emulators from official sources to be sold on iTunes.
The removed apps include Nesoid, Snesoid, Gensoid, N64oid, Ataroid, Gearoid and Gameboid, many of which have proved hugely popular on Android. And Google didn’t stop at a mere takedown, it also revoked Zhang’s developer privileges.
Engadget got in touch with Yong and he confirmed that the apps were removed without warning and his developer account disabled, cutting off his primary source of income. He also confirmed that he’d already migrated a number of his emulators to third-party app store SlideME where they’re currently available for free.
Quite what Google is up to, we’re not sure, but if it represents a serious assault on the gaming market from Android, then we’ll bite our tongues. For the time being…
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