The World Ends With You: Solo Remix will not receive iOS 8 compatability update [Update]

If you own The World Ends With You: Solo Remix and you're running iOS 8, Square Enix says you're out of luck. (Update: Square has responded.)

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Update: Square Enix has responded to Touch Arcade and notes that there is a fix in the works, though it is proving more complex than originally anticipated.

Original story: Square Enix hasn't had the most sterling reputation when it comes to mobile platforms. Their ports are sometimes considered to be overpriced, while original titles like Final Fantasy: All the Bravest demonstrated microtransactions at their absolute worst. At the very least, though, the games would at least function. That, sadly, does not appear to be the case with The World Ends With You: Solo Remix.

Square Enix has acknowledged a compatibility problem with the iOS version of The World Ends With You and the newer iOS 8. Touch Arcade notes that the game will not function at all with the newer iOS update. One of their readers reached out to Square's customer support and received a reply that reads, "Unfortunately we have been notified that this title will not be receving an update to be compatable with iOS 8 and forward. For this we and the development team deeply apologize. We can only suggest that you play the game on an iOS 7 or earlier device at this time." This statement contradicts an earlier Reddit post that indicated Square's team was addressing the issue.

This response will be a hard one to swallow for anyone that has purchased or is looking to purchase the 2007 Nintendo DS classic on their iOS device. The iPhone version of the game runs at a whopping $17.99, while the iPad version runs for $19.99. Anyone that stumbles onto the game while running iOS 8 will essentially be picking up a broken game. Shacknews has reached out to Square Enix for comment on this story and will issue any updates as they come.

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Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?

From The Chatty
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    February 2, 2015 11:10 AM

    Ozzie Mejia posted a new article, The World Ends With You: Solo Remix will not receive iOS 8 compatability update

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      February 2, 2015 11:53 AM

      It should not be allowed to stay on the app store in its current state. It is false advertising.

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      February 2, 2015 12:06 PM

      What's this mean for the Android version? Will is that one also become obsolete in a future update?

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        February 2, 2015 2:39 PM

        Probably. I've seen a few games already where the dev has said they will not fix Lollipop compatibility problems.

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      February 2, 2015 12:13 PM

      [deleted]

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        February 2, 2015 3:59 PM

        I never played the Solo Remix version but the original wasn't too bad once you got the hang of it. I was never coordinated enough to crank out the buddy combos consistently and on demand but did well enough to beat it without much trouble. You could keep yourself at level 1 the entire game, making it harder for a while but giving yourself more XP in the long run. I punched it up to my max level for the final stretch and it was a joke.

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      February 2, 2015 2:42 PM

      This is problem with semi/open platforms; affecting iOS, Android, Windows and MacOS. Windows tends to be the best at supporting legacy versions. But, mobile is easily the worst. We've seen this happen in the past and it's just going to continue and probably get worse. I've seen a few games already where the devs have said they will not fix the game for Lollipop. That just sucks, but I understand they can't keeping spending develop hours on older games that probably aren't bringing in any significant revenue.

      BUT, I fully expect them to stat that on the description of the game once they've acknowledged there is an OS level compatibility problem.

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      February 2, 2015 3:46 PM

      Sadly, this seems to be standard operating procedure for SQuenix. They used to be quite good at producing beloved, rich, deep games. Now they're a few steps above EA in terms of how badly they will abuse an IP or interfere with a game's development. And as for mods, don't even pretend to hope that the game won't be locked down.

      The fact that they own the rights to Deus Ex worries me to no end.

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      February 2, 2015 5:30 PM

      Played the DS version, a good game.

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      February 2, 2015 6:46 PM

      Update: Touch Arcade got a response before I did, but a fix will happen, after all.

      http://toucharcade.com/2015/02/02/the-world-ends-with-you-is-broken-on-ios-8-but-square-enix-will-be-fixing-it/

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