The company wants to provide a more ‘unified’ experience for all Apex Legends players on all platforms.
EA and Respawn Entertainment brought shocking news to Apex Legends Mobile fans in January this year. In an announcement blog dated January 31st, the company pointed towards its inability to keep the bar high in terms of quality, quantity, and cadence in its updates, ultimately leading to its decision to shut down Apex Legends Mobile.
Many players were baffled by the announcement. Apex Legends Mobile was considered a very successful game (regardless of the game’s bugs and lack of new and exciting content), winning two Best Game awards in the 2022 Google Play Awards.
Unfortunately, those awards were not enough to keep the game alive, as the game was still ultimately scheduled for an inevitable shutdown later in the year.
After months of silence from EA and the devs, a recent investor’s call has highlighted the real reason behind Apex Legends Mobile’s untimely death.
Why did Apex Legends Mobile shut down?
EA and Respawn Entertainment blamed their inability to deliver quality content promptly for the death of Apex Legends Mobile.
While the game indeed had game-breaking bugs, cheater problems, and constant delays, these were things that EA and Respawn Entertainment could easily address through an update – they just chose not to.
As it turns out, the real reason for Apex Legends Mobile’s shutdown traces back to a growing trend that many game companies have begun to incorporate in their upcoming mobile games – cross-progression.
Apex Legends Mobile was co-developed with Tencent’s Lightspeed & Quantum, which meant the game had its very own Seasons and even featured mobile-exclusive Legends in the likes of Fade and Rhapsody.
The game even featured classic Legends like Horizon and Octane, but Apex Legend Mobile ultimately felt ‘disconnected’ from the main game, but do not take our word for it; CEO Andrew Wilson himself commented about Apex Legends Mobile’s problem of not being “deeply connected to the broader franchise.” This is the same reason why EA also canceled Battlefield Mobile.
EA competitors, such as Activision, have also announced the arrival of established PC/Console games that feature cross-progression, such as Call of Duty Warzone Mobile, which is touted to have cross-progression capabilities between mobile and PC/Console.
Will Apex Legends Mobile return?
There is no set a date for the return of Apex Legends Mobile. But if EA CEO Andrew Wilson’s words are anything to go by, Apex Legends Mobile fans can expect to see a relaunch soon.
“We’ve learned a great deal and have plans to reimagine a connected Apex Mobile experience in the future. We know our community values a deeply connected ecosystem, and our team is focused on delivering the best unified cross-platform experience for our players.” – Andrew Wilson during the EA Q3 2023 Earnings Call.
EA is looking to make Apex Legends Mobile an inter-connected experience in a future re-release, which means Cross-platform progression and even cross-platform play might be standard fare for the next iteration of Apex Legends on mobile platforms.
When will Apex Legends Mobile shut down?
Apex Legends Mobile will shut down on May 1st, 2023. Currently, players can still enjoy all the game has to offer, including all the in-game items they bought with real money.
Unfortunately, EA has been firm about refunds for store items that players have purchased in-game: Players will not be getting refunds for any in-game item they have bought as per the company’s User Agreement.
Tough Business Decisions
Investor Earnings Calls are important invents in a publicly-traded company such as EA, which means everything the company says in the meeting can be held against them if they fail to deliver their promises to the company’s investors. Fans can take EA CEO Andrew Wilson’s words as a declaration of things to come for Apex Legends Mobile.
With that said, Apex Legends Mobile fans can expect a more connected and unified Apex Legends experience to arrive on mobile in the future.
