EA is withdrawing from The Simpsons: Tapped Out.
The company confirmed that it has made the “difficult decision” to discontinue its free-to-play mobile game format Post on Facebook today, after over ten years of using the Internet. The Simpsons: Tapped Out game will be removed from app stores on October 31, 2024, and while it will be playable for the rest of the year, the servers will be shut down on January 24, 2025. In-app purchases have now ended has been disabled.
“The decision to end our twelve-year journey is an emotional one,” EA wrote in a Facebook post today. “Together with our partners at The Simpsons™ and The Walt Disney Company, we were thrilled to bring this game to you, the fans, and see how each of you created your own beloved versions of Springfield. It has been an incredible journey, and we are grateful that we were able to deliver 308 updates, 831 characters and, including today’s farewell, 1,463 questlines.”
The Simpsons: Tapped Out was released on iOS in 2012 and then on Android in 2013, allowing players to build their own version of Springfield. At one point it proved extremely popular, and so did EA he said in 2014 that it has generated over $130 million in net digital revenue to date. Seasonal and holiday-themed updates were especially appreciated by fans.
However, Tapped Out also faced pushback as part of broader criticism of the game’s freemium model. This was seemingly lampooned in the 2014 episode of South Park titled “Freemium is not free” which found several characters addicted to an app that looked very similar to The Simpsons: Tapped Out.
The news also highlights the paucity of Simpsons video games over the past decade. The most recent game was Tapped Out, preceded by 2007’s The Simpsons Game and 2003’s Hit & Run. The latter’s creators last year commented on why the beloved game never got a sequel, despite fan demands.
Alex Stedman is a senior news editor at IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she’s not writing or editing, she can be found reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.
