While Electronic Arts (EA) presented, on January 31, the results of the third quarter of its fiscal year 2023the development studio has taken the industry video game by surprise by announcing stoppingApex Legends Mobile for May 1st. A decision that highlights the difficulty to make a license permanent on the mobile games market.
Apex Legends Mobile a poorly adapted game?
According to the Californian company, the end of life ofApex Legends Mobile is not influenced by the quality of the game which was voted game of the year 2022 by Apple and Google on their respective platforms. The PC and console version ofApex Legends became EA’s second most profitable licenseafter overtaking that of American football Madden NFLjust behind Fifa.
Andrew Wilson, executive director of EA explains that the title faces a retention problem and struggles to keep its occasional players. He is pointing out that ” in a game that relies heavily on team play and competitive play, the variety of the whole player base is very, very importantespecially when considering the future experience of players over time “.
The mobile version of Battlefield also canceled
The mobile version of the battle royale, released in 2019 in response to Fortnite, is not the only mobile project abandoned by EA. The Redwood City-based company also revealed that it was going to nip the mobile version of Battlefieldin development since 2021.
This decision shows how much the mobile video game sector can be austere, even for industry giants. It’s hard to make a name for yourself when pioneers like King and Supercell continue to grab the top spots in the rankings app stores with games like candy Crush Or Clash of clans.
Today, mobile represents most of the video game market. The analyst firm Newzoo estimates that in 2022, the turnover of mobile licenses will represent half that of industry. Last year, mobile games earned 78% more than console games.
