Electronic Arts is set to lay off some of its staff after sunsetting two of its mobile titles EA Sports MLB Tap Sports and F1 Mobile Racing.
Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, EA stated, “This is a difficult decision that we know impacts passionate communities who have played and enjoyed these games, and we do not take it lightly. We extend our thanks and appreciation to the MLB, MLBPA, OneTeam Partners, and MLBPAA for their close and valuable partnership.”
EA has affirmed its dedication to the F1 franchise as the shutting down of F1 Mobile Racing will not affect the console and PC versions of the game. "We are deeply committed to our F1 franchise through our ongoing partnership with Formula One Management," an EA spokesperson said.
However the fate of a baseball brand at EA is now less certain. MLB Tap Sports stands as EA's sole MLB game, raising questions about the future of their partnership.
EA Sports MLB Tap Sports was rendered effectively inoperable in an update on February 8 with fans taking to X (formerly Twitter) to ask questions of the team and seek a fix or provide refunds for recent purchases. Now it seems that the title will simply not be updated and - at the time of writing - the issue of refunds and reimbursements for recent game and season passes has yet to be addressed by Electronic Arts.
Unmet expectations
Both MLB Tap Sports Baseball and F1 Mobile Racing are scheduled to go offline on May 24, 2024. Once this happens, they will no longer support in-app purchases and will be delisted from various app stores.
“If you purchased an in-game subscription through one of the app stores, you’ll need to terminate your subscription with the applicable app store provider," EA wrote on the Glu community page. Adding that “unfortunately, the game was unable to meet our performance expectations".
“Our heartfelt thanks goes out to this community of millions of baseball fans for their loyalty and to our partners at Major League Baseball and MLB Players, Inc. for their support over the last ten years."
Following Glu Mobile's $2.4 billion acquisition by EA, the FC24 maker assumed publishing duties for the baseball game. Now it seems that after paying such a significant sum for one of it's most high profile brands, EA are walking away from the sport and its fans.
