Respawn Entertainment pulled off a major shocker when it announced that it will shut down Apex Legends Mobile servers for good less than a year after its official release.
In a statement, Respawn admitted that the popular first-person shooter game had fallen short of expectation — an admission that greatly shocked the international mobile gaming community.
"Following a strong start, the content pipeline for Apex Legends Mobile has begun to fall short of that bar for quality, quantity and cadence," Respawn announced.
"It is for this reason, after months of working with our development partner, that we have made a mutual decision to sunset our mobile game."
Respawn stressed that gratitude to the support showered on Apex Legends during its short – but sweet – stay on the mobile platform.
"Although disappointing, we are proud of the game we launched, grateful for the support of the Apex Legends community, and confident that it is the right decision for the players," the developer said.
"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."
While essentially the same game as what the Apex Legends community plays on personal computers, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch, Apex Legends Mobile offers a different experience starting with legends such as Rhapsody and Fade being non-playable characters in those platforms.
Respawn has also opted to disable in-app purchases for Apex Legends on the day of its announcement while promising to offer support to its remaining players before they call it quits for good in less than 90 days.
"We will be disabling all real money in-app purchases in the game as well as removing the game from webstores," Respawn said.
"During this period, players can spend their existing Syndicate Gold and continue playing the full game. We understand there will be many questions surrounding this decision and want to assure our players that we are here to help."
"Our love for the Apex universe and our players remain unchanged. We look forward to exploring this universe, its characters, and its stories along with you. In the meantime, we appreciate your continued support and patience as we navigate these next steps."