In February, Apex Legends turned one year old.

In February, Apex Legends turned one year old. The game from Respawn Entertainment had a good chance to oust Fortnite from the position of the leader of the genre, but became a hostage of its own popularity. Cybersport.ru recalls how the most progressive “royal battle” of 2019 slipped from the hype wave and tells what it has to offer its fans today.

A success that caught by surprise

The release of Apex Legends took place on February 4, 2019 without any preliminary announcements and advertising campaigns. The Respawn Entertainment studio kept the game development a secret, as it was afraid that potential users would be scared off by scandals around Electronic Arts that had not abated since 2017. The bet on surprise and the free-to-play model were a success – on the first day after the release of Apex Legends, more than 2.5 million people around the world played, and the simultaneous number of users online exceeded 600 thousand.

All the top Twitch streamers drew attention to the new shooter, so in the last month of winter the Apex Legends section became one of the most popular on the platform. The setting of the game successfully balanced between the realistic PUBG and the cartoonish Fortnite, thereby drawing the audience of both competitors to its side. Every fan of the “royal battles” found something for the soul in Apex Legends: some saw the potential for e-sports in it, while others liked the variety of characters and the mechanics of resurrecting teammates. There were also those who hastened to use the hype around the shooter to boost the streamer career. For example, Apex Legends has taken Michael shroud Grzesik’s popularity to a new level, making him one of the most successful influencers in the gaming industry.

The unexpected success of Apex Legends enraged the fans – they demanded everything from Respawn Entertainment at once: correcting the balance, fixing numerous bugs, new heroes, skins and weapons. In parallel with this, eSports clubs were actively recruiting players and streamers for shooter games and increasingly asked developers about tournament plans. Respawn Entertainment executives are completely not ready for such a stir. The studio in a hurry began to increase staff, and all employees from other projects were transferred to Apex Legends.

Fan Faith Crisis

March 19, Apex Legends developers unveiled first official season, in which there was a combat pass, a new hero and a set of skins. However, the long-awaited update was met with a wave of indignation and criticism – There was too little new content. Already by spring, many fans of the “royal battle” had dulled their impressions of the game, and they increasingly began to pay attention to bugs and crashes of the client, as well as to the lack of new content and official tournaments. Cheaters created additional tension around the situation – every month Respawn banned hundreds of thousands of accounts for using prohibited programs, but this did not save the situation over a long distance.

With the conquest of eSports, things at Apex Legends, too, at first did not work out. Players didn’t get any quick decisions from Respawn – instead, they had to perform in unofficial competitions and show tournaments from streamers like those held by Guy DrDisRespect Baym. A good example was the TwitchCon Europe Showdown, where the teams were able to fight each other almost the first time. At all previous events, participants fought with ordinary pubers, competing only in a set of points.

It seemed that the optimal format was finally found, but already at the next major tournament in June, which the FACEIT platform held under an official license from Electronic Arts and Respawn Entertainment, the organizers back to old format again. Prospects for Apex Legends in eSports very fast changed from ambitious to foggy. Many clubs did not like the fact that invitations to tournaments were often given out as media, and the number of slots at the qualifiers was minimal. Prizes did not strike the imagination either, and the randomness factor in the game greatly limited the ability to make any predictions.

Error handling

Only a few months after the release, the company felt for a working rhythm and realized how to respond to the requests of the audience. For the first year, the developers spent three seasons, released a new map and several in-game events. Respawn also revealed that it is not afraid to experiment with new modes and formats. At various times in the game appeared duets and third person view, and in the future should come out and single mode. Problems with crashes have recently become less, although bugs still cause inconvenience to users. The number of cheaters has also decreased – the developers have added algorithms for machine learning, which simplified the search for violators. Particularly malicious fraudsters began to issue bans “for iron” so that they could not enter the game even with clean accounts.

For the year in Apex Legends came three new heroes – Octane, Wattson and Crypto, and with the start fourth season Revenant’s killer robot has become available to players. In addition to the characters, new weapons and dozens of unique skins were added to the game. Another studio learned to make interesting presentations that reveal the legend of the “royal battle” in a new way. The developers even began to troll dataminers, leaving various Easter eggs in the game files. A particularly vivid trick they succeeded with presentation supposedly the new hero of Forge.

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In the second half of 2019, Apex Legends fans finally got eSports tournaments with a more or less familiar format. The Apex Legends Preseason Invitational used a PUBG championship scheme with several rounds at each stage. All participants competed in the same lobby with each other, so the tournament results were more fair.

In December 2019, Electronic Arts talked about global plans to promote Apex Legends in e-sports. Company announced a tournament system Apex Legends Global Series, which will include 12 championships with a total prize pool of $ 3 million. Fans were promised four categories of events, including open competitions online, as well as transitional tournaments Challenger, Premier and Major. At the end of the season, the final stage of the Apex Legends Global Series Championship will be held, in which the top 60 teams will play a million dollars. The final of the first major will be held March 13-15 in the US Arlington, among the participants there are rosters Natus Vincere and Virtus.pro.

What to expect in 2023?

Summing up, it is worth recognizing that the year for Apex Legends turned out to be saturated and very difficult. After a stormy start, the game began a noticeable decline, which can be judged by the popularity of its Twitch section, but it can still compete with CS: GO and Dota 2, when major tournaments do not take place in the disciplines from Valve. But the organizers of the game awards still appreciate Apex Legends. Battle Royale wins nomination “Best multiplayer“ according to The Game Awards 2019 and Golden Joystick Awards 2019, and also became the “Best Online Game of the Year” at D.I.C.E. Awards 2019.

According to the latest quarterly report by Electronic Arts, the number of registered users in Apex Legends exceeded 70 million people, and there are good chances that in the future this figure will increase significantly. Earlier, Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson said in a report to investors that Apex Legends will be a priority project for the company. In 2023, developers are planning release mobile version for iOS and Android, as well as adapt the “royal battle” for the new generation of consoles – PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.

The publisher’s plans are ambitious, and Respawn Entertainment, it seems, has learned not only to listen to users and maintain the pace for the production of new content, but also paved the way for a full-fledged break into e-sports. Perhaps 2019 was just a test period in the upcoming long struggle Apex Legends for the championship in the genre?