Electronic Arts has announced that both Apex Legends Mobile and Battlefield Mobile are shutting down. Apex Legends Mobile will sunset on May 1, 2023, at 4 pm PST. After that point, the game will no longer be playable. There was no date provided for Battlefield Mobile, but EA said that it will cease development.
“Despite Apex Mobile’s strong start, the ongoing experience was not going to meet the expectations of our players,” explained EA in a statement. “After months of working with our development partner, we have made the mutual decision to sunset the mobile game.”
EA continued, “We’ve also made the decision to stop the development of the current Battlefield mobile title. As the industry has evolved and our to create deeply connected Battlefield ecosystem has taken shape, we decided to pivot from the current direction to best on our vision for the franchise and to meet the expectations of our players.”
On today’s earnings call, EA CEO Andrew Wilson offered an additional sentence in his prepared remarks that speaks to the possible future of Apex Legends on mobile. “We have learned a great deal [from Apex Legends Mobile] and have plans to reimagine a connected Apex Mobile experience in the future.”
This seems to indicate that EA may bring Apex Legends back to mobile in some format without Apex Legends Mobile’s development partner, Tencent subsidiary and PUBG Mobile maker Lightspeed Studios.
We have made the decision to sunset Apex Legends Mobile.
We’re sure you have a lot of questions. For more information on where things are at currently, including an FAQ, please read the blog below.https://t.co/Yjr4EOJnTq pic.twitter.com/4k3dGzOL12
— Respawn (@Respawn) January 31, 2023
EA said that it will also continue working on Battlefield 2042, and is in pre-production on future Battlefield games. Back in September, it was revealed that Halo veteran Marcus Lehto will be leading Ridgeline Games to develop new Battlefield narrative campaigns.
As of today, Apex Legends will be removed from existing storefronts, and all real money in-app purchases will be disabled. However, players can continue to spend their existing Syndicate Gold and continue playing until May 1. This shutdown is specific to the mobile version and will not affect any other platforms. Additionally, no refunds will be provided.
In IGN’s Apex Legends Mobile review, we said, “Apex Legends Mobile showcases Respawn’s skill in creating unique and polished FPS experiences even on a mobile platform. While the controls are a bit lacking, Apex Mobile sets the bar for mobile FPS games with its ability to keep Apex’s iconic movement mechanics and core unique battle royale experience intact.”
George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. He’s been writing about the industry since 2019 and has worked with other publications such as Insider, Kotaku, NPR, and Variety.
When not writing about video games, George is playing video games. What a surprise! You can follow him on Twitter @Yinyangfooey
Additional reporting by Rebekah Valentine.
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