Kodi dealt KO blow? Popular add-on Phoenix shuts down

Kodi’s having a rough time of it lately, what with increased scrutiny of the media management software, court cases, and calls from industry leaders to crack down on modern piracy that makes use of the software.

And now, Kodi streamers will be dismayed to hear that one of the most popular add-ons, Phoenix, has shuttered.

The add-on provided access to TV shows, films, and sports channels, with the developers blaming “current events” for the shut down.

Related: Kodi 18 ‘Leia’ release date and features

Kodi itself is legal software, which is used by some to run add-ons that enable the streaming of pirated content. The sale of hardware that comes pre-loaded with these adds-ons – so called ‘fully-loaded’ boxes – has come under heavy scrutiny of late.

This week it was revealed that add-on ZemTV and the TVAddons library were being sued in a federal court in the US, while in April, the European Court of Justice effectively banned the sale of ‘fully-loaded’ Kodi boxes in a lengthy ruling.

Elsewhere, Amazon, Facebook and eBay have all announced plans to ban the sale of ‘fully loaded’ Android TV boxes on their respective marketplaces.

All of which has led to a number of Kodi add-ons shutting down, with Navi-X – first launched in 2007 – becoming the first victim of the increased scrutiny.

Now, as TorrentFreak reports, Phoenix has become the latest add-on to fall, with developer Cosmix writing: “In light of current events we have decided to close down Phoenix.

“This is not something that was easy for us to do; we have all formed a bond that cannot be broken as a team and have a HUGE support base that we are thankful of.

“I can speak for myself when I say thank you to everybody that has ever been involved in Phoenix and it will always be one of my fondest memories.”

Although there is no specific reason for the shutdown given, Cosmix heavily suggests the recent legal issues are to blame.

It follows developer One242415’s departure from the Kodi scene, who recently provided his thoughts on the current state of Kodi streamimg:

“I am removing my addon for good. It was a hell of a ride for me. First starting off with Navi-X, then with Mashup, then with Phoenix, and for two months with my own add-on.

“Thank you all for supporting One242415!! PS: I will not be back I’m closing down for good! This addon will be closed within a few days.”

Numerous other add-ons have shut down in recent months, with Kodi Geeks compiling a quickly expanding list.

This week President and Managing Director of the Motion Picture Association’s EMEA region, Stan McCoy called for more to be done in the fight against this new form of piracy, which he referred to as ‘piracy 3.0’.

Speaking at a panel session held during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, he said: “Piracy is not a static challenge. The pirates are great innovators in their own right. So even as we innovate in trying to pursue these issues, and pursue novel ways of fighting piracy, the pirates are out there coming up with new business models of their own.

“If you think of old-fashioned peer-to-peer piracy as 1.0, and then online illegal streaming websites as 2.0, in the audio-visual sector, in particular, we now face challenge number 3.0, which is what I’ll call the challenge of illegal streaming devices.”

Let us know what you think of Phoenix’s departure in the comments.