Popular video game emulators like the Nesoid, Snesoid, Gensoid, Ataroid and many others have reportedly been removed from Android Market by Google.
Google had in the past also removed a few emulators from the marketplace following a complaint by game and device manufacturer Sega.
Emulators are programmes that imitate the working of a device, such as a gaming console. These are very popular because through them users can play popular console games, which don’t otherwise work on PCs and smartphones.
The ban could be due to allegations of copyright violation and piracy. Although these are legitimate programs and are written by independent developers, they still result in the illegal copying of otherwise copyrighted games owned by companies like Sega.
As of now Google has deleted all similar applications from its marketplace and has disabled the developers’ accounts as well. Following this case there is a huge possibility that other third party application stores might do the same with similar programs, but the question is: Will the companies provide a solution for people to play classic games that they used to play through these emulators or will they just become like memories of the past.