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'Apex Legends' Has the Chance to Stick Around

Why it could take over the top spot from 'Fortnite' some day—and why EA has made a 'Titanfall' of a problem with 'Anthem.'

By Tyler MurphyPublished 5 years ago 4 min read
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The first full week of February has concluded and I have played too many hours of Apex Legends. Objectively, this is a remarkable accomplishment. I did not expect to leave work so early this week. I did not expect to have my Xbox party chat to fill up with ten of my friends clamoring for a chance to squad up. I thought the next upcoming game that I would sink my teeth into would be Anthem but, much in a reversal of fortunes for Respawn, I predict EA has just doomed Bioware’s chances as Apex Legends has ensnared a massive player base in its first week.

Granted, Anthem and Apex Legends are not similar—the popularity of Apex in its first week and more importantly, its quality, is enough to bypass genre delineations. Imagine that you’re Bioware and just a few short weeks before your game comes out, your publisher releases Apex without it ever appearing on its future release report? Anthem has its own issues to deal with but, where once there was a void in the game landscape that Anthem planned to fill, Apex has filled that void to the brim.

Apex isn’t just the Anthem-killer at the moment. Although there is a "new-kid-on-the-block" boon in viewership, the quality of the game and enthusiasm for Apex has the potential, I predict, to take a serious percentage of dedicated Fortnite users over to its arena. Let us first consider some of the similarities. Unlike PUBG and even Blackout, Fortnite has built into its core aesthetic the element of "play." The world that Fortnite created is open for interesting and out-of-the-box dynamics that the realism of PUBG and the pseudo-realism of Blackout could not compete with. From launch, Apex has the potential to "play" and try genre-bending strategies because it is not confined to realism.

Unlike PUBG and Blackout, Fortnite, and Apex are both free-to-play. This is one of the major reasons for Apex to have such a boon in its first week of users where the numbers totaled over two million players and 800,000 concurrent players. These numbers are still rising as word of mouth continues.

Parlayed with the word of mouth is streamer and viewership of Apex. Fortnite, which has been at the top of stream viewership for as long as most gamers can remember has been dwarfed on Twitch and Mixer. The numbers I have been seeing pretty consistently has been astounding: Fortnite has had only 1/3rd of the viewers that Apex has had throughout Apex’s first week. The belief from this gamer is that those numbers will eventually even out, however, this is to say that Apex will be taking a significant number of players from all the other Battle Royale games and bringing them to their platform.

Ultimately what we have is a game poised to be the next big thing—with its ceiling being Fortnite. As mentioned, the game is free-to-play. This makes it accessible to anyone with a PC or Console. Perhaps Apex cannot take the user base of everyone on Fortnite, but it can take the more hardcore gamers, streamers, influencers who want to play the best competitive battle royale game on their souped up PC or Xbox One X. Respawn has even discussed plans for Crossplay. Moreso, although the fidelity of the game would make mobile play an impossibility at the moment, with the ease of looting and advancements in mobile devices, there is always a chance in the future as the game gains legs. Watch out, Fortnite.

The surprising reclamation story is Respawn entertainment, which has risen from the ashes to surprise everyone with a AAA-developed title. They have always been critically lauded for making shooters that push the genre from a feel and aesthetic standpoint. With the backing of their reticent publisher EA they, at the very least have a chance to gain more support for Apex as EA realizes how much money Apex could make them.

As of right now, Apex Legends sits alone atop Twitch and Mixer. It sits alone for its playful arena, ease of access, in-game-traversal, gunplay, looting systems, and let’s not forget the innovative ability to respawn your downed teammates by grabbing their banners. The game has changed how gamers understand squad-based battle royale games and this is only the beginning. With plans for more of the unique and game-changing legends, more potential game modes, guns, attachments, maps, ranking systems, etc. We are potentially seeing the new powerhouse of the gaming world at its beginning. I, for one, am very excited to see it at its Apex.

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