Apex Legends on PC and Console has been going since February 2019 and is still going. Apex Legends Mobile, however, being up only since May of 2022 will not make it past May 2023. The game is set to be sunset and shutdown on May 1, 2023. According to Respawn, the shutdown is due to ‘factors out of their control’, but the writing was already on the wall.
Apex Legends Mobile: The Good
With a successful launch on May 17, 2022, Apex Legends Mobile looked promising. The gameplay was fantastic, the new Legend, Fade, was fun, and there were plenty of players. Ranked felt good whether you were solo queue or with a team, and the reintroduction of existing maps and a new Team Deathmatch map was strong. The cosmetics on the battle pass were nice, and even going into Season 2, the new Support Legend, Rhapsody, was amazing.
In my opinion, Fade and Rhapsody are two of my favorite Legends in the whole franchise. If losing this game means losing them, I am greatly disappointed. If there were a silver lining here, there is always hope that Fade and Rhapsody come to the main game one day. Though, there is also a good chance that will never happen, unfortunately.
Related: All Rhapsody abilities and perks in Apex Legends Mobile
The Bad and The Ugly
The bad news was the monetization. Aside from the reasonable premium Battle Pass pricing, the monetization in Apex Legends Mobile was very predatory. So many skins came so fast, and there was very little way to guarantee earning them in their loot boxes.
As a player of the first two seasons, and a Diamond player in ranked both seasons, I had no desire to play Season 3. There was no new mobile Legend, the color scheme and theme of the season was incredibly boring… the game had gone stale. I was disappointed, because I loved the game at the start, but it is true that Apex Legends Mobile lost its touch.
I truly feel for the players that stayed invested hoping for better. And the developers who poured their hearts into the game. As a developer myself, it always breaks my heart when games are shutdown. It could have been great. It started great, but things fell to the wayside.
That said, according to former Kotaku editor in chief, Stephen Totilo, the development team is only closing ‘this version’ of Apex Legends Mobile. And there may be more mobile plan in the future.
Overall, it’s sad to see a game with so much potential go. I loved Apex Legends Mobile for the first two seasons it was out. There was even a point I was playing it more than the PC version. But I can’t deny, I agree that the game fell apart at Season 3. I lost interest, and I know I am not the only one. All and all, it was a great game while it lasted. Let’s hope the future brings something new and exciting from the Apex Legends universe to mobile.
