EA cancels development of Apex Legends Mobile, Battlefield Mobile

EA has announced the discontinuation of Apex Legends Mobile and Battlefield Mobile, as well as the closure of developer Industrial Toys, who worked on the latter game.

News of the cancellations came alongside EA’s latest financial results. The publisher said it decided to end development on Apex Legends Mobile – which launched last May – because the “ongoing experience would not meet our players’ expectations”.

A separate statement from Apex Legends studio Respawn Entertainment shed a little more light on the concerns surrounding the game’s development, saying, “We want to provide players with games that are consistently excellent. After a strong start, the content pipeline for Apex Legends Mobile has begun to decline near that bar of quality, quantity and cadence.”

“For this reason,” the statement continued, “after months of collaboration with our development partner [PUBG Mobile developer Lightspeed and Quantum Studios]that we have made the joint decision to close our mobile game.”

Because of this, Apex Legends Mobile will be officially retired on May 1st of this year. However, the game will be removed from storefronts and all real money in-app purchases will be disabled starting today. In stark contrast to today’s Rumbleverse closure announcement, EA will not refund real-money purchases made by players, citing the terms of its user agreement.

As for EA’s decision to stop development of Battlefield Mobile, the publisher explained“As the industry has evolved and our strategy of creating a deeply connected Battlefield ecosystem has taken shape, we have decided to deviate from the current direction in order to best execute our vision for the franchise and meet the expectations of our players .”

News of Battlefield Mobile’s cancellation was accompanied by confirmation that developer Industrial Toys – which was acquired by EA in 2018 – is closing. Founded in 2012 by Bungie co-founder Alex Seropian, Industrial Toys developed a number of mobile shooters, including Midnight Star, before being purchased by EA. It became known that the studio is working on Battlefield Mobile in 2022. EA hasn’t said how many employees will lose their jobs as a result of the decision to close Industrial Toys.