Respawn Entertainment has announced that its award-winning mobile game, Apex Legends Mobile, will no longer be playable as of May 1, just shy of its one-year launch date. The announcement was made via Twitter, accompanied by a link to a Q&A section on EA's website.

　　We have made the decision to sunset Apex Legends Mobile.

　　We're sure you have a lot of questions. For more information on where things are at currently, including an FAQ, please read the blog below.https://t.co/Yjr4EOJnTq pic.twitter.com/4k3dGzOL12

　　— Respawn (@Respawn) January 31, 2023

　　The announcement comes as a surprise given Apex Mobile's rise to popularity. It earned $5 million during its first week after launch, and swept the competition at both the App Store Awards and Google Play's Best of 2022 awards. Respawn's tweet is a bit vague, but the Q&A on EA's website explains things a bit further.

　　"Following a strong start, the content pipeline for Apex Legends Mobile has begun to fall short of that bar for quality, quantity, and cadence," reads the publisher's statement. "It is for this reason, after months of working with our development partner, that we have made the mutual decision to sunset our mobile game."

　　The recent decision to push back the launch of Season 4 by over a month did strike some players as an odd choice, but it's safe to say that very few players were expecting the game itself to end up in a deathbox--let alone this soon after launch.

　　"In terms of what players can expect from here, today marks the beginning of a ninety (90) day window before we sunset the game," the statement on the website continues. As of today, all real-money in-app purchases will be removed (IE you can no longer buy Syndicate Coins), and the game itself will be removed from the App Store and Google Play Store, making it unavailable for download. Any Syndicate Gold players currently own can be spent until operations are ceased on May 1 at 4 PM PDT, when the game will shut down in all regions."

　　The statement confirms that no refunds will be given, and all in-game content will no longer be available as of May 1. In-game currency can still be used until the game goes offline in May. But despite this abrupt announcement, the developer reassured players that this has no ties to the PC and console version of Apex, which is "going strong." The fate of mobile-exclusive legends like Fade and Rhapsody remain to be seen. It's also unclear whether or not Season 4 will actually launch. Apex Legends isn't the only mobile game to get the axe today, either--EA also announced that Battlefield Mobile, which has yet to fully launch, has also been canceled.

　　The announcement on EA's website ends with a suggestion that this may not be the last players see of Apex Legends when it comes to mobile gaming, with the developers stating that "Respawn and the Apex Legends team remain excited about mobile as a platform and look forward to new opportunities to serve players there in the future."

　　Apex Legends Mobile is available for download on Android and iOS devices.

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