The publisher is shifting its strategy moving forward
Electronic Arts is shuttering development on two of its mobile projects. Apex Legends Mobile is shutting down, and development on Battlefield Mobile is coming to a halt.
In an update posted today, the publisher characterized this as a “strategic decision.” In regards to Apex Legends Mobile, EA says that despite the strong start, the “ongoing experience was not going to meet the expectations” of players, and a mutual decision was made to sunset the mobile game. Apex Mobile was in development with Tencent subsidiary Lightspeed Studios.
Meanwhile, Battlefield Mobile was still in development. The decision was made to pivot from the current direction towards one that will “best deliver” on EA’s vision for the Battlefield franchise.
“We remain highly committed to unlocking Battlefield‘s enormous potential,” reads today’s statement. “We’re hard at work at evolving Battlefield 2042, are are in pre-production on our future Battlefield experiences at our studios across the globe.”
As part of Battlefield Mobile ending development, Industrial Toys—the studio working on it—is also closing down.
Legends carry on
Respawn and EA have outlined an FAQ on how the sunsetting of Apex Legends Mobile will go down. Starting today, there will be a 90-day window before Apex Mobile shuts down. As of January 31, or today, all real money in-app purchases are being disabled, and Apex will leave mobile webstores.
During this time, players can spend any lingering Syndicate Gold and continue playing the game. Then on May 1, 2023, all operations will cease and the game will no longer be playable. No refunds will be offered for real money purchases. EA also notes this does not affect Apex Legends proper, which is independent of the mobile offering.
On today’s financial call, EA CEO Andrew Wilson did leave the door open for future attempts. “We have learned a great deal [from Apex Legends Mobile] and have plans to reimagine a connected Apex Mobile experience in the future,” said Wilson (via IGN). For now, though, it seems like EA’s mobile FPS ambitions are put on pause.
