Electronic Arts published two, and one by Epic Games. Did the Square Enix closures in January start a trend…?

VentureBeat reports that Industrial Toys, headed by Bungie founder and former CEO Alex Seropian, will be closed by Electronic Arts after its 2018 acquisition of Battlefield Mobile developers. The game had been in soft launch since May on Android and iOS, so before the official launch, the publisher decided to get rid of the game (and the studio). Here’s the EA announcement: “As the industry has evolved and our strategy to create a deeply connected Battlefield ecosystem has taken shape, we decided to pivot from the current direction to best deliver on our vision for the franchise and to meet the expectations of our players.”

We also have to say goodbye to another mobile game, as Apex Legends Mobile is leaving. It was co-developed by Lightspeed & Quantum Studios, the Tencent studio behind PUBG Mobile, alongside a team from Respawn, and the free-to-play game’s servers will shut down at 4 PM on May 1, also on iOS and Android. Until then, in-game currency can be spent, but no money will be refunded. Respawn has also published a blog post about this game, and we quote from it:

“At Respawn, we aim to provide players with consistently outstanding games. Following a strong start, the content pipeline for Apex Legends Mobile has begun to fall short of that bar for quality, quantity, and cadence. For this reason, after months of working with our development partner, we have made the mutual decision to sunset our mobile game. Although disappointing, we are proud of the game we launched, are grateful for the support of the Apex Legends community, and are confident that this is the right decision for players,” Respawn wrote. During the quarterly earnings report, Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson said they have learned much from the game and plan to offer a more connected Apex Legends Mobile experience.

Epic Games and Iron Galaxy have announced that the free-to-play brawler battle royale Rumbleverse, which launched on August 11 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PC (Epic Games Store, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, will be discontinued in one month! That’s a quick death, and let’s see what the reasoning is: “Rumblers, we have an essential update on the future of Rumbleverse. Iron Galaxy Studios and Epic Games are very sorry to share that Season Two will be the last for Rumbleverse. This project has been a labor of love to create a new experience in a popular and highly competitive game genre. If you’ve been a part of that journey, we thank you—whether you jumped into the first playtest after our reveal or just shot yourself out of the cannon for the first time.

Live services for Rumbleverse will go offline on Tuesday, February 28, at 10 AM CST. Any player who has spent money on Rumbleverse is eligible for a refund of money paid on or in the game. This includes purchasing a Rumbleverse Battle Pass or Brawlla Bills on any platform. We will share a FAQ page with additional refund information soon. Later today, we are deploying the final update to Rumbleverse. We are closing the store and opening the whole experience to every player. The current Battle Pass will be granted to everyone. Your XP gains will be doubled so that you can fast-track for every rank. Quads, Trios, Duos, and Solos will be live, and we’ve also unlocked additional accessories and emotes in the game for free.

We can still have fun together before the sun sets in Grapital City. The remaining weeks will be a chance to celebrate the competitive spirit you’ve brought to this game. There will be more live streams to play games with the developers and let them pull the curtain back to share some behind-the-scenes moments from the creative process that built this city. We’re so grateful for the players who joined us in the Rumble. Thank you. If you’re curious about our plans, check out the open letter to the community on the Iron Galaxy blog,” the studio wrote.

So three games and one studio are gone.

Source: VGC, VGC