Apex Legends ends support on original Nintendo Switch after five years

Rituraj Halder Published August 6, 2026

EA and Respawn Entertainment’s most popular battle royale, Apex Legends, has officially ended support on the original Nintendo Switch console.

Following the conclusion of Season 29, the free-to-play shooter will no longer be playable on Nintendo’s 2017 handheld hardware, ending it’s 5 year-long run on the Nintendo Switch. 

While the game continues to be available across PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and the newer Nintendo Switch 2, the original Switch port is done and dusted. 

Nintendo Switch says goodbye to Apex Legends

Apex Legends was first launched on Nintendo Switch back in March 2021, and it was quite a technical feat. The devs managed to bring the fast-paced and graphically heavy battle royale to the portable system despite the hardware restrictions. 

However, that doesn’t mean the Switch’s aging processor and limited RAM had no effect on the title. Over time, as Respawn introduced larger maps, visual reworks, and complex Legend abilities, maintaining performance on the original Switch became difficult for the dev team.

According to the devs, the decision came from their desire to push the game’s technical foundation forward without being held back by legacy hardware. Fortunately for existing users, player progress, cosmetic purchases, and Apex Coins are tied to individual EA accounts, allowing complete cross-progression when migrating to a supported platform or the Switch 2.

The discontinuation of the Nintendo Switch version will be the second notable retirement of a dedicated port in the franchise’s history. Back in May 2023, EA made the decision to shut down Apex Legends Mobile just one year after its global release.

Unlike the Nintendo Switch edition, which shared the main game’s ecosystem, cross-progression, and live-service updates, Apex Legends Mobile was a standalone title built from the ground up specifically for iOS and Android devices. 

Despite entering the massively profitable mobile gaming market and garnering a decent-sized player base, EA canceled the title alongside Battlefield Mobile, pointing to optimization restrictions and lack of content consistency.

However, while the shutdown of Apex Legends Mobile permanently wiped player progress and standalone cosmetics, fortunately, it won’t be the same for Switch players, thanks to the shared accounts.

Live service games are an ever-evolving genre, so them moving on from legacy hardware is a reality that we all need to get comfortable with.