Friday, January 30th 2026
Apex Legends To Drop Nintendo Switch 1 Support in August
Apex Legends is currently free to play on all major gaming platforms, but that will apparently change later this year. EA and Respawn Entertainment just announced that Apex Legends will officially end support for the Nintendo Switch 1 on August 4, 2026. The announcement goes on to clarify that Season 29 will be the final update for the aging handheld gaming platform. All features, including premium currency purchasing and spending will be available until the Switch 1 servers shut down on August 4.
EA says that any progress, in-game items, and premium currency balances will continue to be tied to individual player accounts, and those same accounts will be accessible via the Nintendo Switch 2 version of the game. Apex Legends will also continue to receive the same content updates as the rest of the game's platforms until the servers are taken offline. Players can also transfer all of their game progress—except for premium currency—to another platform via the Cross Progression hub. Apex Legends has been playable on the Nintendo Switch since March 2021, and it has been available on the Switch 2 since August 2025.
Source:
EA
EA says that any progress, in-game items, and premium currency balances will continue to be tied to individual player accounts, and those same accounts will be accessible via the Nintendo Switch 2 version of the game. Apex Legends will also continue to receive the same content updates as the rest of the game's platforms until the servers are taken offline. Players can also transfer all of their game progress—except for premium currency—to another platform via the Cross Progression hub. Apex Legends has been playable on the Nintendo Switch since March 2021, and it has been available on the Switch 2 since August 2025.
21 Comments on Apex Legends To Drop Nintendo Switch 1 Support in August
Look how they massacre ma boy nintendo switch. Ohh well, few days ago ordered NS2.
This game even scaled down as far as it gets probably doesn't run much above 20fps on the Switch. It's just not a good experience.
Likely they have gotten tired of holding things back just to fit on that ancient processor or they are running out of RAM and cant figure out how to keep requirements in check, and since the game is F2P they figure their playerbase will just migrate to the next generation of hardware.
The Switch barely runs it. Many would say it never should have been a switch game in the first place.
www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/video-game-developer-vince-zampella-crash-call-of-duty/3819576/
Anyway, Apex is a live service battle royale game, free-to-play with gacha-like monetization for skins and "mythic" cosmetics. Being live service doesn't give you much of a choice, you're either on a supported platform, or you're not. Genshin's dropping PS4 for example, hardware is just junk.
I stopped playing Apex because it was far too sweaty, chock full of cheaters and devs weren't listening to feedback at the time, solo queuing was complete and utter hell. That and they raised the price of Apex coins. It was bad on my PC, can't even imagine playing a competitive battle royale on a Nintendo Switch. It's simply not a pleasant experience. It's been over 20 seasons since though, should maybe reinstall sometime. My mythics must be absolute museum relics by now, like Bloodhound's hatchet and prestige skin
I just thought if someone already spent money on it on a platform, they should be able to continue playing the game on that platform. If it's free to play, that changes the equation.
Overall, trust me, you don't want to be playing Apex on a Switch, even as a casual.Again, this is a multi-platform live service game, with a cross-play pool, meaning, there must be absolute feature parity between it and the versions of the game that run on much more advanced hardware. There's really only two ways to go about dealing with the problem: completely discontinue the Switch version, or isolate it on an older version of the game that will never receive updates and new content anymore, turning off cross-play in the process, and something tells me that demand on the Switch for this game is already low since the hardware is so wank that it doesn't really run the game well enough to be even remotely considered playable. It'll be 2 or 3 dudes left playing this.
Considering that cross-progression is now available, and that a Switch 2 is available to service the niche of people who play competitive games with very expensive gacha monetization on such a device, the choice should be pretty obvious.
Back in 2019 when Apex came out, Switch 1 was an alternative for those who didn't have better performing hardware.
Seven years later, most people have hardware today that will play Apex better than Switch 1. Remember that this game is available both on Android and iOS so even if you have a five-year-old smartphone, it will probably handle Apex better than Switch 1 so EA/Respawn sunsetting Switch 1 support isn't really a big deal. The number of people who have a smartphone with less gaming performance than Switch 1 is extremely small by now.
The game ran on the switch, and not great, and the game has since outgrown the hardware. It's not unique or unheard of.
Ever heard of Minecraft? You know how the 360 and ps3 editions stopped getting updates?Why would they continue to tie themselves onto the older console that is being phased out?
Let's think about this for a second.
HOWEVER, they did Switch 1 a dirty with the release of Season <insert number here since I don't give a f>, which intentionally tanked its performance. There is absolutely no improvements what so ever in graphics or gameplay on the latest seasons, just performance drop. That is all. Not sure if you can still play vanilla or if is still worth it.
The Switch 2 version is actually not bad (60 FPS on most maps, even during the starting jump). I was surprised about it the first time. Somewhat better than the PS4/Xbox One version.The mobile version of the game was sunset in 2023.The Switch queue merged with the general console queue in 2024, so Switch players will be fighting against PS5 and XSX players, which is obviously huge disadvantage, despite the higher aim assist for NSW players (.70/70%). If a PC friend brings the Switch player to their lobby, they get reduced to .30 aim assist which is most likely not fun for them. :laugh:
In any case, EA/Respawn know how many active players were on Switch 1 so I assume that the game's discontinuation on that platform has been relatively well considered.
Admittedly I haven't played Apex on ANY platform since well, about 202. I am not sure whether or not the game's evolution has made an attractive title on mobile/handheld devices but I do know that live service games do actively change over time. For sure there are more options in live service today than 2019.
It's clearly in my best interest to bow out of this conversation at this point.
Size of the user base.
If they cant support both systems, then delay supporting switch 2 until it becomes the bigger system and drop switch 1 support.
Sometimes technical decisions are not rational business decisions.
Imagine releasing a game now thats only playable on 5000 Series Nvidia GPU's or only playable on Windows 11 25H2, would you agree that would be a dumb business decision?