Apex Legends is now 5 years outdated, and nonetheless going sturdy. The sport is presently headed towards season 23 in early November, and whereas its participant numbers aren’t quite at the heights they was once, the hero shooter nonetheless appears to be doing all proper for itself. Some firms is likely to be pondering proper about now as to how they will refresh and replenish that playerbase with a sequel, however EA CEO Andrew Wilson does not appear .
Throughout immediately’s Q2 earnings name, Wilson said in reply to an investor query that giant dwell service video games corresponding to Apex that attain large audiences should proceed to creatively innovate and replace, or they danger shedding that coveted prime spot. For that purpose, he continued, EA acknowledges a “want for significant systematic innovation that basically adjustments the best way the sport performs,” and mentioned that that is one thing the groups are actively engaged on.
As a comply with up, another person requested him that because the groups are engaged on that “systematic rethink of Apex,” in the event that they’re contemplating doing “a complete studs-up rebuild” on one thing like an “Apex 2.0”, versus incremental change over time.
Wilson’s reply? No. This is his response in full:
Usually, what we have now seen in the context of dwell service-driven video games at scale is the ‘model two’ factor has virtually by no means been as profitable because the ‘model one’ factor. And so truly the target proper now’s to make sure that we’re persevering with to help the worldwide playerbase that we have now, and ship them new, revolutionary, inventive content material on a season-by-season foundation, in addition to construct these different issues, however construct them in a approach that gamers do not need to surrender the progress that they’ve made or the funding that they’ve put into the present ecosystem. Anytime we trigger a worldwide participant neighborhood to have to decide on between the investments they’ve made thus far and future innovation and creativity, that is by no means a very good place to place our neighborhood in.
Our goal shall be to proceed to innovate in the core expertise…after which construct further alternatives for engagement in completely different modalities of play past what the present core mechanic delivers. And we expect we will do these two issues collectively, and we do not imagine we have now to separate the expertise in order to take action.
So, per Wilson, no Apex 2.0 for the foreseeable future, however there may be some kind of “systemic innovation” on the horizon that would shake-up Apex Legends in a giant approach. The excellent news is that Wilson’s feedback appear to jive with what the builders need too. Final 12 months, Respawn’s sport director Steve Ferreira told GameSpot that the studio does not need to ever put the sport in a place the place the one possibility is to close the entire thing down and launch Apex Legends 2, calling the concept an “anti-vision.”
EA reported a file Q2 immediately, with $2.08 billion in web bookings, and The Sims 4 gaining 15 million gamers in 2024. Apex Legends lately adjusted the way it discloses loot field reward odds to gamers, and is gearing up for the beginning of Season 23 on November 5.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You will discover her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Obtained a narrative tip? Ship it to rvalentine@ign.com.