Do you remember when Galaxy on Fire 2 came out?? You probably won’t be able to tell the year exactly. And especially if you consider that initially it (what a surprise) was released on regular phones – and only then got to smartphones.

But you probably remember what a sensation it created. Galaxy on Fire 2 was a near-perfect iPhone game. The graphics were simply mind-blowing, the smoothest animation and dynamic gameplay were amazing. And this made the greatest impression on those who were already directly familiar with GoF 2 before. And the appearance of the version for smartphones gave me a real shock – could all this really fit in my pocket??! You won’t believe it, but for many Galaxy on Fire 2 was almost the decisive argument in favor of buying a new device. Yes, after all, this all happened when no one had heard of iPhones in the post-Soviet space – so, there was some kind of shaitan machine, and for many it was perceived as some kind of magically unknown device for the rich and experts.

I personally will never forget the https://slotsnogamstop.co.uk/starburst/ moment when I unpacked my fourth generation iPod touch that arrived from overseas. Now you can’t look at him without tears and you can’t work without them – but then he was perceived as true magic. These feelings are indescribable. It felt like I had a device in my hands from the future, from a parallel Universe.

That was the dawn of the mobile gaming industry. This was the moment when publishers had not yet learned to turn each of their (even good) creations into a money grab, and there was a constant feeling that just a little more and mobile games would literally merge with console games. But it was that wonderful time when mobile games were still MOBILE – they felt the roots of those companies that were born in the J2ME era, but had already acquired progressive 3D graphics with stunningly smooth animation and full-fledged voice acting. How can we not remember the wonderful creations of Gameloft, EA Mobile and Fishlabs… What a wonderful time it was.

But this couldn’t last forever. After all, a business must grow, and, as we know very well, most often it does not grow to please consumers (or, more precisely, not the casual part of them). And as a result, the amazing balance was upset. Let’s go free-2-play. Let’s go endless farms and runners. Shameless copying and plagiarism began in an attempt to eat a piece of the pie, which in a matter of months had grown to incredible proportions. EA quickly realized what was what. Gameloft, although trying along with a huge number of monotonous farms, tried to make paid projects, but made it clear that from a commercial point of view there was no point in this. And Fishlabs… Fishlabs decided that the market would spare them.

It didn’t work out. Of course, Galaxy on Fire 2 was an amazing game. And two amazing additions were released for it, which all the fans bought and completed with incredible pleasure. However, such projects at that time were destined to sit in the shadows while the market was flooded with an insane amount of monotonous garbage and crowds of people ready to pay for this seemingly free garbage.

Later, Fishlabs will try to adapt to the situation, to “bend” to the market – and in no case can you blame them for this. They adapted their other games into Free-2-Play, introduced the purchase of in-game coins for money, tried to attract buyers with free add-ons – and they did all this with great reluctance. Because this system was disgusting to them. With much more enthusiasm, Sade (one of the founders of Fishlabs) declared that Free-2-play is garbage, and the future lies in games with brand advertising a la Sports Car Challenge. But it didn’t sound very convincing, and even Sade himself understood this perfectly well.

Tell me honestly – after the release of the amazing Galaxy on Fire 2, did you even have any doubts that the third part was only a matter of time? You could imagine that in a measly few years the studio would close and become part of another company, and its founders would pack their bags and leave their brainchild? Yes, we were waiting for Galaxy on Fire 3. Some continue to wait for her even now. Although they understand perfectly well that this no longer makes any sense.
You remember how I described my feelings from the new iPod? So the whole problem is that I never experienced such sensations again. Never. And I’m unlikely to ever experience it.