An unexpected announcement:
Last week, Apex Legends Mobile players were met with three notifications from the developers that all carried the same message:
“We are saddened to announce that we have made the difficult decision to sunset Apex Legends™ Mobile. Factors beyond our control prevented us from maintaining the high-quality experience that our players deserve. As a result, the game will sunset on May 1, 2023, at 4 pm PDT after which it will no longer be playable. You are encouraged to spend the remaining Syndicate Gold and make use of in-game items before the game is taken offline. In support, we will be launching additional in-game events in the weeks ahead. -Respawn”
To put it shortly, the game’s servers will be shut down on May 1st, don’t make any purchases and if you have left currency make sure to spend it.
The chaotic aftermath:
I was lucky enough (or unlucky if you wanted to think about it like that) to be there when they dropped the news on the unexpecting players, the chat (understandably) went berserk, Some were angry because the hard-earned money they spent on the game suddenly felt wasted, and asked for a refund, some were trying to make a hashtag to protest against the game’s closing, and some were sad either because they have just entered the game and they are feeling like they missed out or just because the fact that it’s closing.
The sad reality:
Live service games shutting down isn’t a new thing in the industry, video games are (in the end) a business, and the major drive for business is profits, in the case of multiplayer games you have the ongoing cost of running and maintaining servers for players from around the world, and if the costs exceed the profits or even if the gains didn’t stand up to the publisher’s expectations the games usually get shut down.
Other games across the industry:
Aside from Apex legends mobile, there are several other games that are shutting down this year, including:
1. Rumbleverse 28th of Feb 2023
2. Knockout city 6th of Jun 2023
3. Echo VR First of Aug 2023
4. Crossfire X 18th of May 2023
What to do if your favorite game is closing?
There’s not much to do about this case, back in the day (and under some exceptional circumstances) players would be able to make custom servers for their favorite games, or host gameplay sessions if the game supports a P2P (peer-to-peer) type of connection which allows direct connection between players by making one of them act as a server and the other’s would be its clients but it’s not that common these days due to the nature of always online games and the anti-cheat systems, my best advice is to enjoy it while it lasts because nothing lasts forever, soon you would find a new favorite game for you and life would move on, and please, don’t attack/ harass anyone linked to your game, believe me when I say that devs are sadder than anyone when it comes to this type of news because it’s the fruit of their labor, and it was a journey for them as much as it was for you, but if they can move on, so can you.
Sources:
Servers picture
10 games that are shutting down permanently in 2023
EA and Meta weren’t the only companies to ax games this week