I recently posted a well-received feature on IAP to this site. The gist was that IAP isn’t a bad thing, but it is often badly used. One of the worst culprits has been EA. iOS gamers will be familiar with its decision to turn premium title Real Racing into a freemium offering, but EA’s also happy to murder older gaming darlings.

A year ago, I wrote about EA’s work on the revamped iOS version of Tetris. At the time, I’d not played the game, but was baffled by the $99.99 IAP for 200,000 ‘T-Coins’ that could be used for in-game currency, and the laughable $29.99 12-month subscription that ‘awarded’ you (if that’s the right term) with 15 per cent more coins per game. For just 43 times more than the game itself cost, you could slightly speed up how rapidly you acquire in-game currency!

Safe to say, that aspect of the game didn’t make it on to iPhoneTiny‘s barg alerts. If anything, I was crushingly disappointed with what EA did, not because Tetris for iOS was bad, but because it was potentially really good. On playing it, I found the touch-based controls were a really interesting attempt to rework the game for iOS, and the puzzle mode was addictive. The problem was it fast became obvious you could only truly succeed by paying money rather than by learning levels and being skilful, and my interest rapidly waned.

According to a report by Pocket Gamer, EA has now outdone itself with freemium title Tetris Blitz, which includes a number of ‘boost’ power-ups:

The more powerful power-ups, like Lucky Spin—which optimises the next seven blocks to be the best fit—and Three Strikes—which gives you three game-changing I pieces in a row—cost £6.99/$9.99 a pop.

This reminds me a lot of Bejeweled, which I once considered a fantastic online game, but that was rapidly ruined when it became clear those willing to spend climbed the leaderboards, not those who mastered the game. Still, EA’s arguably taken things a step further with Tetris Blitz:

There are other handy options, which are only accessible after stumping up real-world cash. And they are super expensive. Want to see the next three Tetriminos? £20.99/$29.99, please. Need to hold two blocks instead of one? That will be £27.99/$39.99.

21 quid. For a power-up that unlocks what’s standard Tetris functionality in many modern versions of the game . That’s truly astonishing and deeply upsetting for any fan of gaming.

In an interview, Tetris creator Alexey Pajitnov once told me he was a little sad about how Tetris was being wrenched from its streamlined roots, not least with the then-current add-ons for the DS version that made the game simpler and that were almost akin to cheats. I can only wonder how he feels about his classic game now being butchered on EA’s alter to the gods of IAP.