@burpie sums it up correctly. AB:Space while technically very innovative, is not exactly the most popular topic out there and it’s not the fault of AB:Space.
Let’s take a look at space exploration in general these days. Are kids enthusiastic about space exploration these days, or are they more interested in their favorite pop idols and social media.
With the commercialization of spaceflight and not many manned space programs being planned or well publicized, ironically it is the Chinese and the Indians who get the limelight these days in their frankly very good progress in rocket, satellite and now Moon rover technology.
Like it or not, the topic of Space does not captivate people as powerfully as it did in the days of Apollo, or more recently (in the 80s and 90s) with the Space Shuttle being prominently featured in all sorts of media from Hollywood movies to kids’ cutlery sets. I ate from a plate that was shaped just like the Shuttle with the food in the payload bay. How awesome is that! But that’s retro, and kids these days don’t really care for such things anymore.
So letting Space slip is not that much of an issue when Rovio needs to cater to the likes of the majority of its fans, and deploy both next-gen festive content on a regular basis to keep everyone entertained. And here we see another problem of Space – what sort of festive content can appear in Space?
Most of the ‘fun stuff’ already went into the two Star Wars titles, leaving the relatively ‘boring’ subject of Mars Exploration in AB:Space. I love the Curiosity Rover and its awesome new powered re-entry concept and have built dozens of replicas of it in Bad Piggies, but for anyone who is not a space nerd… they won’t devote much time to the subject.
Ironically, AB:Space ties in perfectly well with Bad Piggies for obvious reasons. It’s the perfect backyard bottle rocket simulator :)
Still I don’t think AB: Space is ‘dead’. Let’s not be too cruel. NASA and other international space agencies need time, and lots of it to get their next-gen space systems developed and ready for the next big thing.
But a lot of the current projects like Orion are literally, reinventing the wheel and not giving the public anything revolutionary to observe. The Orion looks like an upsized modernized Apollo re-entry capsule, and all the cool toys like rockets and big hypersonic spaceplanes have already been shelved a long time ago… for good reason. Look at today’s economy. It can’t support mega projects or “Star Wars” technology unless the economy gets its act together (and stops wasting money on unnecessary weapons… but that’s another subject :) )
So the conclusion is, I don’t think there is a need to ask for more Space development right now. AB: Space caters to a comfortable little niche market with its own unique physics and bird powers. It stands on its own. It may not be popular now, but nothing is stopping Rovio from surprising us with a new episode in future, just like they did with the other feature product, AB: Rio.
