Electronic Arts (EA) is sunsetting The Simpsons: Tapped Out game after 12 years.
In an in-app pop-up notice, EA informed users that the game would no longer be playable in 2025 with new downloads ending in October.
“Sadly, in-app purchases have been disabled, and the game will no longer be available from the App Store after October 31, 2024,” read the notice. “You may continue playing until January 24, 2025. Then the game will no longer be accessible. We bid you adieu. Until we meet again…”
EA also addressed The Simpsons: Tapped Out fans on social media, saying the decision to end the service was “an emotional one.”
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“We have made the difficult decision to sunset Tapped Out. In-app purchases have been disabled, and the game will be removed from the app stores October 31, 2024,” EA said in a Facebook post. “You may continue playing until January 24th, 2025, at which point servers will be turned off and TSTO will not be accessible.”
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The statement continued, “The decision to end our twelve-year journey is an emotional one. 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. It has been a remarkable journey, and we are grateful that we’ve been able to deliver 308 updates, 831 characters and including today’s final farewell 1,463 questlines.
“As our journey comes to a close, we offer our sincerest thanks to you, the players, who have made this all possible.”
The Simpsons: Tapped Out is a freemium game that debuted in Apple’s App Store in 2012 and Google’s Play Store in 2013. Users were tasked with creating their own Springfield using familiar characters and buildings from the show. The game provided regular updates throughout the year tied to storylines on the show and the holiday-themed episodes.
Users could also make in-app purchases for donuts, which would help speed up tasks, or buy premium characters and buildings.
South Park criticized the game’s freemium aspect in the 2014 episode “Freemium Isn’t Free,” which called out the practice of allowing users to download and play a game for free but having to pay real money to get the full experience.
As the game wraps up by 2025, EA has stopped offering in-app purchases and now allows users to get donuts with in-app currency, as shown below.