The SouljaGame has met its quick and inevitable end.
Rapper DeAndre Cortez Way, aka Soulja Boy, pulled his new line of emulator consoles from his website less than a month after he began selling them. Links to their product pages on SouljaWatch.com now result in a 404 error.
“I had to boss up. I didn’t have a choice,” the musician said on Twitter Friday, seemingly referring to the consoles’ disappearances.
The SouljaGame console and SouljaGame handheld were available for a base price of $200. The console reportedly came with over 800 pre-installed games from the PlayStation, Nintendo Entertainment System, GameBoy Advance, and more. The handheld allegedly had over 3,000 pre-installed games and claimed it could also run Switch, 3DS, and Vita titles. Both were manufactured by Chinese company Anbernic and could be found much cheaper on other storefronts like Amazon and Ali Express.
Both “Tomb Raider” and “Tekken” artwork were used in promotional materials for the emulators, though it’s unlikely publishers Square Enix and Bandai Namco gave permission to use their IP. It’s also unlikely publishers gave permission to sell their titles on the emulators. Nintendo is especially protective of its products. Soulja Boy claimed all of the games were licensed in a Friday tweet, but one day later the emulators were gone.
While the rapper didn’t provide a reason for their sudden removal, it’s likely a publisher threatened legal action. Variety contacted Soulja Boy, Nintendo, and Square Enix for comment, but they did not immediately respond.
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Soulja Boy also confirmed on social media Friday he’s looking to build an esports team in 2019. The rapper, who’s apparently close friends with popular “Fortnite” streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, told TMZ during an on-camera interview two weeks ago he was interested in finding and hiring talent.
“Get ready the hustle doesn’t stop,” he tweeted. “Big plans will be announced soon. I’m just getting started.”