Apex Legends has been a huge hit for both Respawn Entertainment and EA, and since reaching 50 million players within the first month, it has remained steadily popular over the last year. In a recent interview with gamesindustry.biz, the COO of Respawn, Dusty Welch, talked about a new Apex Legends based team in Vancouver, Canada.
Drew McCoy, previously the executive producer of Apex Legends, and Respawn CEO Vince Zampella, spoke in 2019 about the importance of letting developers rest between updates. Working around crunch time was a priority for the Respawn team and the establishment of this new team proves that they’re working towards a better balance for those behind Apex Legends.
It's time to pursue your fortune! Season 5—Fortune's Favor is now live across all platforms. Peep the patch notes below.
📄: https://t.co/e2r0NVnKBU pic.twitter.com/P8fz7aih0Y
— Apex Legends (@PlayApex) May 12, 2020
In the interview with gameindustry.biz, Chad Grenier, Apex Legends game director, speaks of the innovation already achieved by Apex Legends in the Battle Royal genre and beyond. He claims the team has many more ideas, and this new Respawn team based in Vancouver will “help bring more to the game.”
Back in late 2019, Respawn announced that Apex Legends would likely continue for years to come, with the Battle Royale being EA’s top shooter for the fiscal year of 2021. They also promised that 2020 would be a year of amazing content.
Dusty Welch mentions in the gamesindustry.biz interview how they’d like to see the Apex Legends and greater Titanfall universe become a top franchise, following the likes of FIFA or Call of Duty.
Obviously, plans this year have likely gone awry due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Season 5 was delayed, but only for a week, and following the patterns of previous season’s releases, there’s likely to be a new limited-time event within the next 3 weeks. If everything goes to plan…
So far, Season 5 has been very successful. Its trailers trended on YouTube, and viewership was up across all platforms. Many have returned to the game after a hiatus to check out the new legend, Loba, and enjoy the big changes made to King’s Canyon.
However, hit registration issues continue to be a problem in the game, as well as the frustrating buzzing sound bug that has mistakenly lead some people to replace their headsets. Hopefully, with the expansion of the Apex Legends team, we will see more hotfixes and smaller patch updates more regularly.
