John Paul M. Joaquin Games 02.01.2023 03:Feb AM EST

Respawn Entertainment To Shut Down Apex Legends Mobile on May 1

Respawn Entertainment and EA are shutting down Apex Legends Mobile.

The popular game developer and publisher recently announced it is taking the mobile counterpart of the hit first-person hero shooter offline soon due to content development issues.

EA and Respawn Entertainment previously released the game in May 2022 after a short limited regional launch for its beta test phase.

Apex Legends Mobile Shut-Down Details

EA mentioned in a statement to Apex Legends Mobile players that it is shutting the game down on May 1 at 4 PM PDT - less than a year since the publisher first released the game.

According to EA and Respawn Entertainment, the game's content pipeline began to fall short of expectations for quality, quantity, and cadence after months of working with its development partner, Lightspeed Studios, per IGN. Though both companies expressed their disappointment in letting the game go, they are proud of it and are grateful for the support of the Apex Legends community.

EA CEO Andrew Wilson revealed more information during a recent earnings call, saying that Apex Legends' verticality of gameplay and team-based play didn't translate to mobile devices as EA had hoped. Additionally, the game didn't retain the more casual user at the rate EA needed to sustain itself and grow.

Finally, Wilcon cited " an especially challenging mobile market with 'changing player personalities'" that made gaining a foothold on the mobile gaming scene difficult.

Despite this decision, EA and Respawn Entertainment claimed they learned a great deal from the game, with it being the catalyst for plans to "reimagine" a connected Apex Legends Mobile experience in the future.

However, the video game developer and publisher may be enacting its plan without Lightspeed Studios should the two act on these new plans.

EA's Advice For Apex Legends Mobile Players

Speaking of the Apex Legends community, EA advises players that their existing in-game virtual currency balances will remain in their account and can be spent on in-game content between now and May 1 at 4 PM PDT. During the game's remaining period, all players can still enjoy all previously purchased and unlocked in-game content, which will remain with players until the game's servers have officially shut down.

EA will not provide refunds for real money purchases as specified in the terms of the EA User Agreement. However, players with other refund requests may contact the third-party platform they purchased the game's content from, such as the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

Meanwhile, players can no longer access the Apex Legends Mobile Web Store, and all game content sales on third-party web stores will no longer be available to them.

Fortunately, EA shutting down Apex Legends Mobile doesn't affect the main game, as Apex Legends Mobile is a platform-specific experience - EA and Respawn entertainment made it exclusively for mobile phones.

Additionally, Apex Legends Mobile's shutdown doesn't affect Apex Legends' future.

"Apex Legends is strong and we're looking forward to sharing exciting updates in the future," EA said in its statement.