Apex Legend Mobile just confirmed will be shut down.
EA just confirmed shutting down Apex Legend Mobile after 8 months of it’s released. The APEX Legends Mobile game, created by EA and released on the Android and iOS platforms on May 17, 2022, was announced to be closing soon. Respawn Entertainment has also made a statement, stating that making this choice was also painful to them.
One of the most well-known battle royale shooters, Apex Legend mobile, has just received official word that it is closing down. EA announced Friday that the free-to-play shooting game will close on May 1, 2023, just eight months after it was introduced.
Of course, we all know the original Apex Legend, a multiplayer-only sci-fi FPS was launched across platform console and PC back in February 2019 and it become one of the most popular battle royal shooter and few years after that, EA and Respawn teased a mobile version of it and it was eventually released may of last year for both iOS and Android. And now with the announcement, you only have 60 days left to enjoy this game before EA kills the server, and as if wasn’t bad enough news for the player, it also said that once the game is killed, so are any item or extra you’ve purchased in Apex Legend Mobile.
The latest news of Apex Legends Mobile’s shutdown was released yesterday that describe the shutdown was a “mutual decision” with its development partner. Apex Legend Mobile was developed by Respawn and Tencent’s Lightspeed & Quantum Studios, which also handled mobile port of PUBG. The news explaining that the reason behind it, although the game had a “strong start” the content pipeline for it “has begun to fall short of that bar for quality, quantity, and cadence”.
“Although disappointing, we are proud of the game we launched, are grateful for the support of the Apex Legends community, and are confident that this is the right decision for players,” said Respawn in the latest update on the studio’s website.
Respawn explained that in 90-day, May 1, 2023 the game will completely shut down for good, as 4PM ET Tuesday, Respawn also shut down Mobile’s real money transactions form in-game store and removing Apex Legend Mobile from digital stores. Of course the game is still fully playable until the next two month, but however both EA will not make any refunds for in-game purchases that was made during the game’s eight months as “per the terms of the EA User Agreement,” the company wrote in an FAQ. The news is certainly hurt for the people who have spent money on the game.
As for the franchise itself, “As a franchise, Apex Legends is strong and we’re looking forward to sharing exciting updates in the future,” said by the latest news. So you don’t have to worry about their decision to shut down Apex Legend Mobile, as the decisions was specific to that platform and is independent from the PC and console version of the game. However, in EA’s earning calls, CEO Andrew Wilson said that EA and the development partner chose to sunset this “version” of the game and that the company has “plans to reimagine a connected Apex mobile experience in the future.” Wilson also added that mobile will be a growth factor in the future for Apex Legend fancies.
In other EA mobile game news, EA also halting the development on its unreleased Battlefield mobile game which was announced in April 2021 stating that “As the industry has evolved and our strategy to create a deeply connected Battlefield ecosystem has taken shape, we decided to pivot from the current direction to best deliver on our vision for the franchise and to meet the expectations of our players” as EA wrote in their website. With that EA also confirmed that the next Battlefield game was already in pre-production and that work was continuing on the latest game in the series, which is Battlefield 2042. “We’re hard at work at evolving Battlefield 2042, and are in pre-production on our future Battlefield experiences at our studios across the globe,” EA said in its post.
The company also made a number of changes of Battlefield franchise following the poor debut of Battlefield 2042, including putting Vince Zampella, Head of Respawn in charge of Battlefield franchise and announcing a new narrative campaign in the works from a new studio, Ridgeline Games.
I'd also like to draw your attention to the phrase from EA's post about the “deeply connected Battlefield ecosystem.” According to the company's earnings call, EA's mobile strategy for Battlefield and Apex would likely involve connecting them to future titles in both franchises.
“As we look at the mobile market, the biggest new launches that are seeing the most success are the ones that are deeply connected to [a] broader franchise,” Wilson said. “There’s not always crossplay, but certainly cross-progression and a feeling that they’re part of a single unified community and a single unified game experience.” As for Battlefield franchise, Wilson said that the reason the company halted to work on the game is to let the company to “really think about the broader franchise strategy and allow the leadership to build a true cross-platform, immersive game experience around a reimagined Battlefield in the future.”
image by kotakgame
