Hello Games has released a surprise update to mobile game Joe Danger, the game that originally put the studio on the map. The new release contains updated graphics, works with newer iOS devices, and has ProMotion and Gamepad support.
Company founder Sean Murray tweeted that while No Man’s Sky has been an explosive success for the studio, work on the game has meant that the team wasn’t able to maintain regular updates for Joe Danger that would keep it functioning as iOS updated (he called it a “secret shame” for the team).
That shame might have lingered were it not for the parent of a child named “Jack.” Said parent (made anonymous by Murray) e-mailed the company to ask if they could update the game for modern devices. His son Jack is autistic, and Joe Danger wasn’t just his favorite game, it was his favorite–everything. In his parent’s words, it let Jack experience “normal kid stuff.”
Jack’s experience spurred Hello Games into action, and now Joe Danger has a fresh new update.
“This mail broke our hearts and made us want to set things right,” Murray wrote on Twitter. “As game devs it’s so easy to underestimate the impact even your smallest games can have. It blows my mind that something you make can be someone’s first game they played, hit at an important time or even be their favorite thing for a while.”