ResPawn speaks about the past, present and future of Apex Legends

Apex Legends has been quite a visit behind his surprising start at the beginning of 2019. 20 legends, four Battle-Royale main cards, several new gaming experiences and modes and much more were brought together in just over three years, which led to that Respawn's game became one of the world's most popular competitive FPS games with millions of Daily players.

In order to commemorate his achievements, to look at his shortcomings and also to look into the future of Apex Legends, The PC players 24 people with a lot of insight into the game and his upcoming journey into the head has taken: Game Director Steve Ferreira and Design Director, Evan Nikolich.

In this long interview, Ferreira and Nikolic talk about achieving the coveted milestone of 100 million players, the introduction of APEX on mobile and Next gene consoles, high-profile departures at RPAWN and the future of the titanium universe and the role of Apex Legends in it.

The first three years

Like every game studio, Respawn had to reach deep into the pocket when Covid-19 swept across the globe. When the pandemic started, Apex still put in his infancy and only celebrated his first birthday. Ferrerira describes the transition to work from home and the development of Apex from afar as "demanding," but says that by 2021 things were "smoothly". Nevertheless, it was anything but easy.

"The last year brought his own unique challenges, as many of our initial remote work solutions were temporarily intended, but from the need, many of them really have developed into a new permanent way of working," recalls Ferrerira. "To convert some of these short-term solutions into permanent solutions, we did not expect two years ago, but it was a necessary and natural step.

"For example, it was a tough nut, as we had to test the game every day as a team and repeat regularly. Logistics alone to download the game several times a day in different regions of the world with inconsistent network speeds, a wrench in something we used to be of course, when we were in the same building and used the same internal high-speed network. Now, after constant iteration last year, it has developed into a new permanent model that will change the way we play the game as a team, regardless of where we are in the future. "

In addition to these technical hurdles, Ferreira also talks about the remote development of human brake thresholds created by the resrawn team. He admits that it was difficult to replicate the social interaction and creative cooperation that are found in a studio environment from afar, but Respawn has managed to continue to be innovative. "It's might made things harder, but it definitely did not stop... The team is very proud of what we have achieved," he says defiant.

In the life of Apex, there were many heights and depths, so we asked Ferreira what he looks like as the largest achievement and challenge in the last three and a half years. As for the successes, it is not a big surprise that the shiny player number of Apex stands at the top.

"It's hard to choose one because the team has reached so much with Apex and what it is happy about," he says. "But I think at the end of the day we all doing all because we want to make games everyone can enjoy, so I would say that the transposition of the 100 million player brand was a particularly memorable moment for us last year. Knowing that the game you like to do and play, so many people in the world has achieved is an amazing thing. "

As the biggest challenge of APEX, Ferreira chooses the constant need to reconcile constant innovation and improvement with the maintenance of a healthy development team and avoid burnout. "The wonderful thing about a live game [is] that we can continue to build the game every day and develop. It is also easy to get our own worst enemy and too fast to do too much. We work every season to promote the development on the basis of what is best for the health of the game and the team. "

Here and now

While it is interesting to think about the past of apex, one should remember that it is in the presence in a dominant position, with many new innovations and enhancements to bring even more players to play.

Such expansion provides that the game with Apex Legends Mobile comes to mobile devices. Although it is not yet fully implemented, it is currently in limited countries in Asia and South America available, and it seems to be more than a modest mobile harbor. A recent blog post says that it "first mobile" many will be s contents maps, modes and can even include legends.

"We are excited about the great work that has made the team at Apex Legends Mobile, and can not wait to see the game in the players' hands," said Nikolich. While it remains shy of whether the mobile version will attract more players than the PC and console version of the game, Nikolich seems to enjoy the moment. "I hope the players are ultimately just excited to enjoy more Apex."

The console version of Apex Legends will not only bring the game to the phone, but also soon receive an upgrade, thanks to an update of the current generation for those in PS5 and Xbox Series XS. While most upgrades of this nature start from the beginning with all the bells and whistles, Respawn will do things differently, by introducing each new season individual functions. Ferreira says simply that this is "as we like to make games and a natural part of our development process," and says that upgrades are treated the current generation as well as other new entrants such as legends, maps or balance changes.

Ferreira also seems to confirm, are the unique advantage of having the full Dual Sense controller support that those at some point on the PS5.

"Although I can not confirm when we will see dual-sense features in Apex, I can say yes, it is one of the key features that really contributes to the feel and something very Unembellished for all Respawn games," he says. "Things that enhance the sense of our core game are something we look forward."

Respawn is not only expanding with platforms - it also committed to providing Apex Legends new gaming experiences working, going beyond his Battle Royale origins. The game Arenas has installed already fixed as a permanent mode, even with its own ranking system, and the latest LTM, Control, came to the fans good - many of them want it is also a permanent mode.

"The Apex team is all about experimenting and trying new things," says Nikolich. "Therefore, we really enjoy it to develop CTMs and to play around with, to bring each season variety to the game experience. LTM not only bring variety to the gameplay in Apex, but also enable us to offer new opportunities for players to practice their skills, and enable us to new mechanisms for the central BR experience to test. For example, Evo Shields came from an earlier LTM, and we loved the mechanics so much that we've added to the main experience of BR. You can assume that we will continue to play with LTM, Apex. "

The focus on new experiences will not be at the expense of the Battle Royale Apex, with which it has made a name. When asked whether the apex itself Royale First game Battle could remove ever from when the interest would subside to the genre, says Ferreira that Respawn innovate continues "and people's expectations of what a Battle Royale may be, will drive "to ensure that this is never the case with extinction. It is clear that Respawn suggests Royale waves in the world of battle, while other developers elements of Apex Legends in one form or another bring in their games. "We do not try to be anything other than Apex Legends" Nikolich adds, "and we intend to continue to push the boundaries and innovate."

Respawn Giving Up On Apex Legends After New Controversy

But the couple must be innovative with an ever-changing team. In the last four months, several high-profile personalities like Chad Grenier, Rodney Reece and Dave Osei left the team to go in new directions. From the outside this may seem worrying - but Ferreira is not worried.

"Change is healthy and constant, especially in the gaming industry," he says. "Over the years came and went our members always great teams, so this is nothing new in this regard. We had people who have left our team before Apex was introduced, was introduced as the apex and in the last three years.

"However, we have alleged amazing new people to the team all the way. New people mean new ideas that incorporated in the same resrawn principles that have produced great games like titanium case, titanium 2 and apex. This is a healthy part of development and growth. This may also speak for the cyclical nature of games, which we see, for example, in teams throughout the industry with console generation cycles. Apex is more than one person or a few people; It is the common effort of the entire APEX team. "

Ferreira is also uncontrolled through employee outlets as well as the new pedestal, the Apex has risen in the eyes of the editor Electronic Arts. Apex Legends is now the best FPS game of EA and its success should have helped the defects of Battlefield 2042 "offset". - A game that was a commercial failure despite the heritage of the series.

But here, too, the director of Apex is unshakeable. You might think the team would feel the pressure to become EAS next golden goose, but no - Ferreira is defiant: "Finally, we really do not hunt ourselves afterwards or concentrate on the competition - we just focus on making a game on which we look forward to a team. "

The future of Apex Legends

While the first three years of Apex legends have passed as in flight, it is time to look into the future. We already know that there will be shiny new optimizations for the current generation console player, a mobile version, and of course the continuation of new seasons, legends, cards, LTMS and more - but what is still on the horizon?

"This year, we focus on continuing new experiences in Apex, but we also want to help new players to enter Apex," says Ferreira, as we ask him what he wants to achieve in the near future. "This game can be a daunting experience for new players with our competitive environment and our great community. So we want to find ways to encourage casual players to play Apex and make the next step in their competitive gaming...

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