Electronic Arts Plans To Expand Apex Legends Beyond The Traditional Battle Royale Format

Electronic Arts is looking to expand the scope of Apex Legends past its current battle royale modes over the next few years, as revealed by CEO Andrew Wilson during his presentation at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference last week.

According to Wilson, the expansion is in line with its ongoing efforts to refocus on the growth of the company and its existing IPs. Unfortunately, that renewed focus comes with a hefty price as EA also announced its plans to lay off 5% of its total workforce last week.

One of its most popular IPs, of course, is Apex Legends. The game boasts a 75% player retention rate and hundreds of millions of players since its launch in 2019. “It’s a core game, it’s not for the faint of heart when you come into it, and that’s part of its charm and part of why people love it,” Wilson said. That being said, he added that they plan to make the game more noob-friendly starting with Season 20: Breakout last month.

That’s just Phase 1 of their short-term plans. Phase 2 will focus on the introduction of new game modes outside of the traditional battle royale format. They’ll then move on to Phase 3 which will focus on bringing Apex Legends to a wider audience.

With Apex Legends ranking fourth on Steam’s Most Played Games list, they’ve at least got a solid foundation to build on.