Respawn’s battle royale sport Apex Legends debuted six years in the past this month, and mother or father firm Digital Arts has now hinted that an “Apex 2.0” may very well be within the works–but it will not launch quickly.
As a part of EA’s latest earnings briefing, CEO Andrew Wilson mentioned Apex Legends’ debut in February 2019 was one of many “nice new launches” for any sport previously decade of video video games. Since then, it is reached greater than 200 million individuals. However in current instances, Wilson mentioned the sport “has not headed within the course that now we have wished for a while” when it comes to its enterprise efficiency.
So to show issues round, EA goes to concentrate on various key areas, considered one of which is a possible greater “2.0” model of the sport. However earlier than that, Wilson mentioned Respawn’s extra rapid intention is to help the “tens of tens of millions” of people that play the sport on daily basis with quality-of-life updates, higher anti-cheat measures, and extra content material to maintain individuals and engaged. Wilson mentioned Respawn has made “some progress” in that space, however “not as a lot as we’d have favored.” Section two, he mentioned, could be creating a “extra significant replace of Apex as a broad sport expertise.” No matter this may be, it most likely will not launch till after Battlefield 6 arrives, Wilson mentioned.
For reference, Battlefield 6 is penciled in for EA’s 2026 fiscal yr, which means it would launch between April 1, 2025 and March 31, 2026. EA may delay the sport, nevertheless, if it is smart to keep away from a giant sport like GTA 6.
Apex Legends: Takeover Anthem Animated Trailer
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And on a longer-term horizon, Wilson mentioned a franchise like Apex does not come alongside on daily basis, so the corporate will do what it may to construct it out additional and assist the sequence attain extra individuals (and herald extra money for EA). “What I feel we have demonstrated as an organization is a capability to construct franchises that final 10, 20, 30 years and rising,” he mentioned. “Our expectation is that Apex will likely be additionally a kind of franchises.”
To that finish, Wilson mentioned followers (and buyers alike) can seemingly anticipate an “even greater, extra significant replace to that broader expertise and Apex 2.0, if you’ll.” He mentioned the prevailing model of Apex Legends is “not the ultimate incarnation” of the sport, which is a heavy tease for… some form of broader extension to the sequence. Whether or not or not it is a full-on sequel, nevertheless, stays unknown.
“So the crew stays extremely dedicated. We proceed to speculate behind the core neighborhood who continues to play the numbers within the tens of tens of millions of gamers,” Wilson mentioned. “We do imagine that there must be a extra main replace that can most likely occur after a Battlefield launch simply when it comes to timing and the crew is diligently working by what that will be. After which long run, our expectation is that we’ll proceed to broaden what this franchise is and the way we help a core neighborhood of extremely aggressive gamers and new communities that need to come and expertise all of the greatness that Apex has to supply.”
Again in October 2024, Wilson mentioned Respawn wasn’t actively eager about an Apex Legends sequel. EA already tried to broaden the Apex Legends sequence with a cell sport, however the writer took the sport offline.
Subsequent up for Apex Legends is the large Season 24 replace that features a vary of serious adjustments and enhancements.