As Sony removes 683 songs from its SingStar service, is it curtains for the once-hugely popular singing game?

Just thought this was worth a quick revisit.

Whilst theres been no official confirmation, it seems Sony has all but given up on the game.

In days of old, updates were regular and new discs were released.

However, the latest addition of new songs to the SingStore came back in March 2016.

The most recent news update, in November 2016, actually listed songs that were now beingremovedfrom the service.

In total, 683 yep songs are being removed.

The list of games can be foundhere.

Maybe Sony will inject it with new life in 2017.

The signs dont look good…

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Heres our original article from October 2015.

Details can be foundhere.

Sony and its PlayStations had this market cornered at one stage.

First came the EyeToy, then cameSingStar, and then came theBuzzseries of buzzer-centric quiz games.

It would be fair to say that things have not gone to plan.

For some time,SingStarwas a solid success.

But as things slowed down, Sony changed things around.

It made the core game free and downloadable, and you just bought the songs you wanted.

The bigger relaunch, though, came last year.

A new disc was launched, bringing the game to the PlayStation 4 for the first time.

This time, too, you didnt even need to invest in microphones.

You could, through simple app wizardry, use your mobile phone as your mic.

But straight away, there were problems.

Only a fraction, a year down the line, have actually become available.

Neither PS2 or PS3 discs, however, can be used with the PS4 version.

This is then compounded by the fact that the promised regular updates to the SingStore have simply not happened.

In 2015, its been updated twice.

Thats led many to conclude that the game has been abandoned by Sony, yet that isnt the case.

On the officialSingStarTwitterandFacebookaccounts, Sony remains insistent that further updates are coming.

We appreciate you all being so patient as we really want to bring you the bestSingStarexperience possible!

The problem is exacerbated by the fact that, back in April, Sony had promised further progress.

People did still stay tuned, but the update never came.

So whats the problem?

And this might be part of the issue.

Licensing tracks for games is competitive now, and may just be more expensive.

TheSingStarTwitter feed, for instance, is pleasant, bouncy and reasonably regularly updated.

Yet its about competitions, emojis and the odd quiz, rather than anything tangible about the game.

SingStarcustomers, by this stage, just want Sony to come clean.

Had updates stopped completely, then itd be missing, presumed dead.

As things stand, there have been more promises of updates than there have been updates in 2015.

And, bluntly, end users dont want to hear stories of rights issues.

Thats why were the the customers, and Sony in this case is the developer and manufacturer.

Rights issues are thusitsproblem, not that of the customer whos forked out for the game and assorted add-ons.

Granted, that puts Sony in a tricky place.

Oh, and if Sony is reading this, ifBuzzcould come back, thatd be great too.