After the last year, you rarely see a story in the gaming community with a positive connotation. We had to read all year about atrocities at Activision and other publishers for poor worker treatment or worse. So it’s refreshing to see one of the smaller studios do something for good. Hello Games has remastered their first title, Joe Danger, on iOS.
The story could end there, but they did it for a specific reason.
In a Twitter thread, Hello Games CEO Sean Murray explained that the studio was motivated to remaster the game thanks to a fan email they got. The email from a father explained that his son Jack was born autistic and that he loved the game. The father disclosed that Joe Danger helped his son start to understand social interaction more, make friends, and help him cope when he had a bad day.
But anyone with an iOS device might know where this is going. As iOS updates come, some apps begin to falter. It eventually gets to a point where some apps won’t even work on new operating systems. This is what happened with Joe Danger. Realizing the game wasn’t working anymore for his son, this compelled the father to reach out to Hello Games and ask if there was anything they could do? If not, he thanked them for helping his son and the happiness the game gave him.
Murray explains that after the email, Hello Games couldn’t let Joe Danger die on the iOS store without a fight. They worked hard to rebuild the game from the ground up after eight years of changes to iOS development. That’s not an easy feat. But they did it, and they didn’t have to. You rarely see a studio openly admit they act on an email. But Hello Games deserves a lot of praise for making a young fan’s day by bringing his favorite game back.
Joe Danger is now available on iOS once again! You can also download the original version still on Xbox through backward compatibility and a PlayStation Vita if you have it. If you enjoy motorcycle physics games, it’s worth the price of admission. I love the game personally, but I also think Hello Games should be rewarded for delivering well on a promise they didn’t have to.
