Threes! abruptly removed from Google Play over policy violation

If you’re looking for the hit puzzle game Threes! on the Google Play Store — you wont find it. It’s gone. Threes! developer Asher Vollmer revealed today that his game has officially been removed from the Play Store over his use of the term “2048” (another popular puzzle game based off of Threes!) in the app’s description.

Also known as keyword stuffing or spam, the practice is strictly prohibited on Google Play, something we talked about in a previous post back when Google first introduced the changes to their developer policies late last year. While it’s easy to feel little sympathy for the developer, the sudden take down of Threes! — which had amassed hundreds of thousands of downloads worldwide — seems to have occurred without warning.

If nothing else, this high profile app/game suspension once again highlights Google’s need for better developer relations. You can read more about our thoughts on that topic right here.

Download on Google Play: Threes! (no longer available)