EA explained why it stopped releasing Apex Legends Mobile last year. According to the company, the game was not good enough and did not adequately accommodate casual gamers in particular. And the market was not cooperative.

Director Andrew Wilson says Banning Apex Legends Mobile is necessary for three reasons. First, the game on mobile just wasn’t good enough. “There’s a level of immersion and complexity that comes with the gameplay of Apex and that’s where the game goes. This didn’t translate to smartphones as well as we had hoped.”

The second reason is to keep casual players mostly. “It hasn’t happened as often as we need it to. It’s a game about playing in a team and playing competitively. A good group of players is very important when you think about the future experience of new players.”

The third reason, Wilson says, is the mobile phone market itself. “The game came out in a softer mobile market.” EA says it still believes in Apex as a franchise that can also appeal to mobile gamers. “But the biggest new successes do not necessarily have crossovers, but at least synchronization of progression.” Apex Legends Mobile does not contain these two elements.

EA has also had a mobile version of Battlefield in development since mid-2021, but after the Apex Legends Mobile fiasco, that too will be put on hold. EA is not saying if or when mobile versions of Apex Legends and Battlefield will be released. The company says the mobile versions of those games provide “huge opportunities” for the company. EA announced on Wednesday that it would discontinue the game, but then only said that the content pipeline did not provide enough quality and quantity, without explaining what that meant.

Update 8:01: This article initially focused on stopping Apex Legends Mobile, but this news was on the Internet before, so the article was changed to the reason why EA stopped the game.