In a surprising move, EA games have announced today that it will be canceling the popular shooter Apex Legends Mobile and that servers will close on the first of May, not even a full year after the port’s launch.
The Apex Legends Mobile shutdown has come as a shock to many, particularly given the game’s critical acclaim and high level of downloads.
A Highly Rated Game, What Happened?
Apex Legends Mobile certainly didn’t seem to be a disappointment in terms of praise and attention. It got into plenty of lists of the best games of 2022. It currently sits at over ten million downloads on Google Play.
The game was featured in Google Play’s Best Games Of 2022 alongside some more surprising choices. It rated highly in Nimblethor’s very comprehensive list, arguably a more accurate gauge of community interest.
In what we’d regard as a very important accolade, it’s part of our Best Android Action Games list as well!
So why is it shutting down? Well, as often is the case where the industry is concerned, it seems to come down to money. A report from mobilegamer.biz cited a steep decline in its earnings, especially in the last month.
The situation can’t have been helped by the departure of a major lead, with developer Respawn’s Head of Product Development Giovanni Ducati departing for a role at a new company.
Players Left Out Of Pocket
So where does this leave the player base? Not in a great place, unfortunately. EA has announced that they will not be offering any refunds for in-game purchases or currency.
Items purchased will remain usable until the shutdown comes into effect on May 1st 2023, but after that, anything you bought will disappear into the aether.
This is of course the risk you take with any server-dependent game, but many players didn’t expect such a short life for a major title.
This event isn’t going to make anyone more likely to part with cash for in-app purchases on future games, so it could make sustainable revenue harder to come by in the longterm.
Hopefully, this isn’t the start of a trend.
