D'oh! After 12 years, EA is shutting down the mobile city builder The Simpsons: Tapped Out.
An in-game announcement was shared to Tapped Out players on Thursday that said in-app purchases are disabled effective immediately and the game will be pulled from mobile app stores on October 31. You'll still be able to play the game until January 24, 2025, but after that it's fully over for Tapped Out.
Frankly, 12 years is an incredible run for a fairly niche mobile game based on The Simpsons, and according to EA there's been a staggering 308 updates, 831 characters, and 1,463 questlines based on the show.
"The decision to end our twelve-year journey is an emotional one," EA said on Facebook. "Together with our partners at The Simpsons™ and The Walt Disney company, we have delighted in bringing this game to you, the fans, and seeing how you've each built your own beloved versions of Springfield."
Tapped out lets you create and maintain your own version of the Simpsons family's fictional hometown of Springfield, Illinois. It hasn't done a whole lot to revolutionize the city builder genre; you take on quests and complete levels to collect more characters and buildings to re-build your city, thus unlocking more quests and levels, so on and so forth. The in-game economy uses cash as its free, non-premium currency and, naturally, donuts as the premium currency you can buy using real-world money.
Indeed, what's most remarkable about Tapped Out is that it's lasted this long. Released in 2012, it's in the same league as some of the longest running mobile games ever, including Candy Crush (2012), Roblox (2012 on iOS and 2014 on Android), and Temple Run (2011). But at long last, The Simpsons: Tapped Out is finally tapping out, and I'll go ahead and accept the award for most original joke, thank you very much.
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