Alien: Blackout, the mobile entry in the legendary franchise and a direct sequel to the beloved Alien: Isolation, won't be available for purchase after October 31.
Have you heard of Alien: Blackout? You're probably at least familiar with its big brother Alien: Isolation on PC and home consoles, an excellent survival horror game set in the Alien universe which traps you in a desolate spaceship with one of the eponymous aliens. Alien: Blackout is a direct sequel exclusive to mobile devices that tasks you with getting yourself and as many other survivors as possible off a compromised space station via gameplay reminiscent of Five Nights at Freddy's. Or was, rather, as the game is getting delisted on October 31.
Get Alien: Blackout For Cheap Before It Disappears Next Month
The game's sunset date was announced via an X (formerly Twitter) post on October 10 by the game's official account, stating that you won't be able to purchase Alien: Blackout on any digital storefronts after October 31st, but that it "[...]will remain playable for anyone that purchased before the sunset date."
— Alien: Blackout (@AlienBlackout) October 10, 2023
A reason for the delisting wasn't given, but it's not hard to imagine that it involves some licensing shenanigans that the developers weren't invested enough in the game to bother with anymore.
Video game preservation has become a larger point of discussion within the gaming community ever since Nintendo announced the closure of the 3DS & Wii U eShops, with conservationists pointing out that a vast majority of all video games can already no longer be obtained legally, if at all. Digital video games being delisted purely because of licensing issues is just rubbing salt into the wound.
Alien: Blackout just happens to be the latest victim of that. Which is a shame, because by all accounts it's actually a fairly decent game! It's on a deep discount on the App Store, Google Play and the Amazon app store right now, at $0.99, so if it piqued your interest at all, and you have a dollar to spare, I'd urge you to grab it while you still can. 'Tis the season for horror games after all!