The Pinball Arcade has been removed from the Nintendo eShop on Nintendo Switch. According to FarSight Studios, this was done as a result of a licensing issue. However, you can rest assured that the developer is working on putting the game back up. The official announcement from the development team is as follows:
Unfortunately, Pinball Arcade for Nintendo Switch had to be taken off the eShop today due to a licensing issue. We at FarSight sincerely apologize for any disappointment and inconvenience. Once we get the issue resolved, we will be putting the game back in the store.
Our first removed Switch game. Normally, I’d say “I guess this will be the first WAD/WUP for modders to install on the Switch (you know, for games you can get anymore like The Magic Obelisk or Meme Run (thank god)”, if they didn’t already state that they would bring it back.
I’m pretty sure there was a minigolf game that was removed before this because of a poster that had to be swapped out.
I see games removed off eShop all the time, then put back on. Thimbleweed Park, This is the Police, Tiny Metal, Zero Gunner 2 and several others. It’s usually sorted in a manner of weeks, but it happens all around.
Well The Magic Obelisk didn’t get that.
Gunbird was removed from the switch eshop for a few months due to system exploits… So, second or third removed switch game.
Manticore was removed
Okay fine, quite a few games were removed. I guess The Pinball Arcade, Meme Run, and The Magic Obelisk were the only digital exclusives I read about, while the latter two never returned.
I was thinking they removed it because of the terrible performance. The game slows to a crawl when the ball quickly launches away, and speeds back up when it gets close to the bottom. It’s very frustrating to lose at least one ball per play because of that.
Licensing seems to be a killer for many video games. Especially vintage classic games that might have music or branding in them.