Angry Birds HD Update – New Ads Spark Fans Outcry
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Rovio, the development outlet behind the Angry Birds franchise, released a free update to Angry Birds HD two days ago. The update offers fifteen new levels, a new golden egg, and a never-before-seen “news” section.
The “news” section proved to be nothing more than a page full of advertising banners, designed to push players to buy Angry Birds related merchandise. The section is displayed whenever the gamer pauses or restarts a level, and thus literally shows up all the time.
As a result, the rating of the game tumbled all the way down to 2.5 stars, from the usual 4.5 stars the game has enjoyed since its launch. Most reviews of the new update are incredibly negative:
I would have rated this game with 5 stars if the latest update didn’t have ads. I can’t get rid of them. I buy apps to get rid of ads not to get bombarded with more.
Added “News” section when paused- this impacts the time to restart the level and continuous fade-in animation is very distracting. Now we’re forced to wait until the news loads EVERY SINGLE time the game is paused before restarting. Serious players will now have to wait an extra second or so each time a level restart is required. Come on, Rovio!! You’ve made spam more important than playability. Bad move.
Get rid of the ads!!!!! I did not pay $5 bucks for ads. New update and get rid of this crap. What is wrong with you people that you thought this was a good idea?
Ads in free apps may be ok, but iPad users willing to pay a premium to get better than average games simply do not tolerate ads in their apps – lesson learned for Rovio, who is likely already working on stripping out the ads from its otherwise incredibly fun game.
