Electronic Arts has announced that it’s ending support for Apex Legends Mobile and canceling Battlefield Mobile before its official release.
VentureBeat reports that EA will also close Battlefield Mobile developer Industrial Toys, the studio headed by Bungie founder and former CEO Alex Seropian, which EA acquired in 2018.
Apex Legends Mobile launched in May 2022 and was named last year’s App Store and Google Play game of the year, while Battlefield Mobile was in soft launch.
Apex Legends Mobile: Season 1 Launch Trailer
Apex Legends Mobile servers will go offline at 4pm PT on May 1, 2023.
“At Respawn, we aim to provide players with games that are consistent,” the EA studio said in a blog post on Wednesday. “Following a strong start, the content pipeline for Apex Legends Mobile has begun to fall short of that bar for quality, quantity, and cadence.
“It is for this reason, after months of working with our development partner, that we have made the mutual decision to sunset our mobile game.
“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.”
Update
During EA’s third quarter earnings call on Wednesday, CEO Andrew Wilson said the company learned a lot from its experience with the game and “plans to reimagine a connected Apex Legends Mobile experience in the future”.
Apex Legends Mobile was developed by a dedicated team at Respawn in conjunction with Tencent’s Lightspeed & Quantum Studios, which is the group of developers behind PUBG Mobile.
Like Apex Legends for console and PC, the mobile title is free-to-play and does not include paid items that offer a gameplay advantage. It has its own battle passes, collectible cosmetics and unique unlockables.
Respawn said existing Apex Legends Mobile virtual currency balances can be spent on in-game content until the title’s closure and that it won’t be providing refunds for real money purchases.
EA said of its decision to stop the development of Battlefield Mobile: “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.”