Apex Legends —Will Its Success Last?
A new concurrent has arrived in the Battle Royal universe. Of course, Fortnite has been around since September 2017, but seeing that still new games coming out using the same concept (basically,100 players who drop on an island, and they have to find weapons and equipment and be the last man standing) might have us wondering if this fashion will disappear. To this day, the most recent free-to-play game of the genre that was released on February 4th, 2019 is Apex Legends, produced by Respawn Entertainment. Even though the game is having a huge success right now, will it last or will players get bored?
With over 10 millions players after three days of its release and 25 millions after a week, Apex Legends truly had an impact on the video game world. It brings a new game style to the genre because it features twenty teams of 3 players, and they must choose between eight characters that have different abilities. For example, one of the legends has the ability to project holograms of himself around him, which can allow the player to distract an opponent and surprise him from behind. Another character has a grapnel that allows him to move around more efficiently and get to strategic spots that will allow him to attack the enemies from another angle. Moreover, a legend can deploy shields and yet another one can heal his teammates. That’s why it’s crucial for every player to pick the right legend for their team to win the game. Furthermore, an interesting thing that the developers brought with Apex Legends is that when a player dies, he drops his equipment in a box with a banner. If his teammates recover it, they can go to a Spawn Beacon and bring the player back to life. It allows them to come back and keep playing, because the other Battle Royale games do not have this function. Moreover, Apex Legends offers a dynamic approach on the Battle Royal with a good diversity of weapons (19) and a great map with many types of terrain so that the players can experience every way of fighting : on a plain, in buildings and in tunnels.
As I mentioned earlier, another pro that this game has is that it’s free-to-play and is available on PC, PS4 and Xbox One. Thanks to that, it’s accessible to a lot of people and everyone can at least try it. It also features a loot boxes system with which the players can unlock many things such as virtual currencies and different skins for their legends and weapons.
In conclusion, Apex Legends truly brought a new experience to the Battle Royal genre with its unique aspects. The different legends, the weapons and map diversity and its accessibility for everyone is what gave this game its early success. However, will the players get bored or will Respawn Entertainment be able to keep the players satisfied with new features?
