Apex Legends

Did You Know?

• A mobile version designed for touchscreens was briefly available until its discontinuation in 2023.
• In February 2023, it was announced that Apex Legends: The Board Game would begin a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter on May 17, reaching its goal in just seven hours.
• Every new season is accompanied by the release of a new playable character, new weapons, or purchasable cosmetic items.

Development

Respawn Entertainment, the studio behind Titanfall (2014) and Titanfall 2 (2016), was acquired by publisher Electronic Arts in 2017. According to design director Mackey McCandlish, early ideas for Apex Legends emerged before Titanfall 2 launched in 2016, and by 2018 the entire Titanfall team was working on it. However, executive producer Drew McCoy said development did not start until spring 2017, with around 115 developers involved—making it the studio’s biggest project, compared to Titanfall 2’s team of about 85.

After finishing post-release support for Titanfall 2, the studio was uncertain about their next game but wanted to continue making Titanfall titles. Following the same approach used for Titanfall 2, they split into small teams to build “action blocks”—short prototypes testing a gameplay element, weapon, or feature suitable for a Titanfall sequel. One such prototype was inspired by the battle royale genre, particularly PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.

This prototype applied Titanfall mechanics to a battle royale format and was deemed very successful, leading the studio to develop it further. The designers decided that the pilotable Titans (large mecha) from previous games would not fit a battle royale setting, so they focused on creating distinct character classes that still felt like part of the Titanfall universe. They also found that wall-running and other high-mobility features from earlier Titanfall games made it too hard for players to track threats in a battle royale environment.

Respawn CEO Vince Zampella told VentureBeat that Apex Legends, as a free-to-play live-service battle royale, was a new challenge for the studio and represented a different way of making games. Their design philosophy centered on “chasing the fun,” with all mechanics built around team-based play rather than solo play. Major decisions—like team size, number of teams, and map size—were based entirely on what felt most enjoyable to the developers, guided strongly by gut instinct.

Reception

Apex Legends earned generally favorable reviews across most platforms according to Metacritic, though the Nintendo Switch version received mixed or average scores. Several outlets, including Destructoid, Game Informer, GamesRadar+, and PC Gamer, described it as one of the best battle royale games yet and a strong competitor to Fortnite’s dominance in the genre. The combat was widely praised. Destructoid called the gunplay the finest they had encountered in a battle royale, but expressed disappointment that some mechanics from the Titanfall series were missing. In contrast, Game Informer’s Javy Gwaltney argued that omitting Titans and other elements from previous Respawn titles was not an issue, finding the combat satisfying and the gunplay powerful. He noted that the hero system made fights more exciting than in other battle royale games.

Reviewers also highlighted the game’s non-verbal communication system, known as the ping system, as highly innovative. Polygon’s Khee Hoon Chan said it made voice chat with strangers largely unnecessary and reflected the game’s accessibility and clever design. Destructoid predicted the mechanic would become the new standard for battle royale games. Rock Paper Shotgun called it the gold standard for non-verbal communication in games, adding that while the concept wasn’t entirely new, Respawn Entertainment had refined it effectively.

In 2021, Electronic Arts received a U.S. patent for the ping system, but announced that this patent and four others related to game accessibility would be available for free to developers starting in August 2021, without fear of litigation. IGN gave the game a 9 out of 10, summarizing it as squad-based battle royale done right, with cool heroes, a superb communication system, and polished mechanics.

The game received critical praise for the diversity of its playable characters. Several characters are LGBTQ, including one non-binary character, though some reviewers felt the game’s nature prevented a narrative that properly highlighted this diversity.