Apex Legends
Apex Legends
New jumping technique found in Apex Legends by Fnatic N1KOLA
M Alzamora
Despite now being out long enough to be thoroughly vetted and explored by its players, Apex Legends is still offering to players opportunities for discovering new ways to elevate their play. The latest tip comes from Fnatic’s Nikola “N1KOLA” Svensson, who demonstrates a double jump technique that allows the player to scale battlefield structures more quickly than before. It also adds more unpredictable movements to one’s repertoire during fevered gun …
Apex Legends
100 Thieves drops Apex Legends roster before Preseason Invitational
Olivia Richman
Another esports organization is backing out of competitive Apex Legends. 100 Thieves has released their Apex Legends roster, leaving Justin “Teenage” Phipps, Isiaih “Lifted” Slowik, and Justin “JP2” Pate without a team. “Thank you for representing 100 Thieves during your competitive Apex career. We wish you all the best in your future endeavors,” 100 Thieves announced on Twitter. This comes after the squad finished in a disappointing 10th place in …
Apex Legends
Apex Legends’ Jericho abilities leaks, may change game’s meta
Olivia Richman
In the latest Apex Legends leak, a popular data miner took to YouTube to reveal all of the abilities for possible new legend Jericho. Although Season 2 has only dropped just one new legend into the game, data miners have been hard at work looking into the game’s files at possible new legends coming to Apex Legends. Developer Respawn Entertainment has not confirmed any of the leaked legends, but so …
Apex Legends
Apex Legends leak includes abilities of new hero Rampart
Fariha Bhatti
Data miners have possibly uncovered the abilities of a new playable character in Apex Legends. According to hidden code in Apex Legends’ game files, a new legend named Rampart can build turrets and defenses for their team. The information was leaked earlier this week by a data miner known as That1MiningGuy or T1MG on social media. That1MiningGuy has unearthed a number of interesting bits of code in Apex Legends in …
Apex Legends
Apex Legends leak reveals new legends Skunner and Revenant
Olivia Richman
Just after leaking Nomad’s abilities, dataminer That1MiningGuy is back. And this time he’s uncovered an entirely new legend in Apex Legend’s game files. A possible new legend called Skunner was found within a recent patch that introduced the Iron Crown Collection event. The new legend is described as a “Crafty Trapper,” and appears to have abilities revolving around avoiding and setting traps. Light Step is Skunner’s possible passive ability. Enemy …
Apex Legends
Respawn has harsh words for fans upset with Iron Crown event
William Davis
The Apex Legends Iron Crown event has become a public relations nightmare for developer Respawn Entertainment. Apex Legends’ new medieval-themed event hit live servers August 13. The limited-time event introduced 24 new items split evenly between epics and legendaries. Players initially could only obtain the new items through randomized loot boxes. This method of receiving in-game rewards is controversial to begin with, but the kicker here is that players could …
Apex Legends
Respawn responds to Apex Legends microtransaction complaints
Olivia Richman
Apex Legend’s Iron Crown event has not been a hit with fans so far. Although the event introduced all new skins and cosmetics, players were quick to point out that unlocking all of the event items and the Heirloom would cost over $200. And paying that amount is the only way to truly guarantee that players will get the items they want during their limited scope of availability. The new …
Apex Legends
Possible new Apex Legend character Nomad’s abilities leaked
Olivia Richman
Apex Legends continues to stay in headlines thanks to data miners and leakers. When developers accidentaly published files for an upcoming legend during the Iron Crown patch, dataminers were quick to jump on it. Prolific data miner That1MiningGuy recently dropped a video that oulines the alleged abilities of a possible future legend known as Nomad. For months, Nomad has been discussed all throughout the Apex Legends community after data miner …
Respawn Entertainment fires back at fans angered by Iron Crown event
Fariha Bhatti
Apex Legends
Apex Legends fans are mad at Respawn Entertainment. The studio is facing severe backlash from the Apex community after one developer took part in a heated discussion on Reddit. Responding to backlash over the Iron Crown event, a verified Respawn team member posting under the name DKO5 seemed to lose his cool and made comments that reflected his frustration. At one point during the discourse, he jokingly referred to many …
Apex Legends players up in arms over Iron Crown loot prices
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
Apex Legends
Apex Legends has rolled out a new event, Iron Crown, featuring exclusive cosmetic items obtainable through loot boxes. However, since these new loot boxes are expensive and players can open most of them only through real-world cash, many in the community are furious. Just a few hours after Iron Crown went live, players turned to the Apex Legends subreddit and other social media platforms to let Electronic Arts and developer …
Mendokusaii joins Team Liquid’s growing Apex Legends squad
M Alzamora
Apex Legends
Team Liquid has signed former Overwatch pro Lucas “Mendokusaii” Håkansson, but it’s a different genre of shooter he’ll next be playing for them. Liquid picked Mendokusaii up for its growing Apex Legends squad. The Swedish Mendokusaii joins American teammates Gage “caliburn” Meyer, Thomas “Flanker” Cook, and Brendon “Casper” Marino, who currently play Apex Legends as a team. It’s possible he could be on hand as a substitute for that trio, …
Respawn reveals huge list of bug fixes, improvements coming to Apex
M Alzamora
Apex Legends
Respawn Entertainment recently updated its Apex Tracker, a bulletin board of priorities for future Apex Legends updates, by adding a slew of new bug fixes and quality of life changes. The Trello board now includes 16 issues that Respawn will address in future updates. According to the new information, fixes are inbound for a bug that inadvertently gives players a second wind-like ability. Players sometimes found themselves able to fire …
Apex Legends lore reveals new info on Octane and Lifeline
Olivia Richman
Apex Legends
Respawn Entertainment released a video that dives deeper into Apex Legends lore. The video revolves around a texting conversation between Octavio Silva, known as Octane, and Lifeline, whose real name is Ajay Chey. Their heated discussion reveals that Octane tricked Lifeline in order to ensure he got robotic legs. At the start of the conversation, Octane talks about his decision to leave the hospital after receiving his new legs instead …
Apex Legends Iron Crown event brings solo mode, balance changes
Steven Rondina
Apex Legends
It’s time to fly solo. The Iron Crown event has arrived in Apex Legends, bringing a load of new content and a variety of gameplay changes. The event will run from August 13 through August 27. The centerpiece of the update is the arrival of the long-awaited solo mode. The new mode doesn’t seem to add anything particularly surprising, but gives players the opportunity to jump into a game alone …
Shroud criticizes solo mode in Apex Legends due to imbalance
Olivia Richman
Apex Legends
Apex Legends made headlines when Respawn Entertainment announced an upcoming solo mode, but not everyone is on board. Popular streamer Michael “shroud” Grzesiak told his Twitch followers that solo mode won’t be as exciting as fans initially thought. He said the limited time mode wouldn’t be too popular after players realize they “hate it,” and it would most likely never come back again. “The problem if they want this game to …
ESPN cancels Apex Legends tournament broadcast after mass shootings
William Davis
Apex Legends
The rollout of ESPN’s EXP esports series is off to a rough start. According to a Twitter post by Rod “Slasher” Breslau, ESPN and ABC will not be airing the X Games Apex Legends EXP Invitational, and will instead air an E:60 rerun in its place. According to Breslau, the networks opted in this direction after renewed focus on violence in video games following the mass shootings in El Paso, …
Respawn Entertainment hints at next legend to hit Apex Legends
Olivia Richman
Apex Legends
Respawn Entertainment developers have hinted at Apex Legend’s next character. During a motion capture session, Respawn developer Tina Sanchez tweeted a photo of the process along with the words, “Working on Apex Legends stuff.” The images excited her followers, since it hinted at new content coming to Apex Legends. But that wasn’t the only thing that got fans talking. When one Apex Legends player asked Sanchez if the new content …
Apex Legends Iron Crown Collection brings solo play next week
Steven Rondina
Apex Legends
EA Games CEO Andrew Wilson teased that a mid-season event was coming that would “deliver one of the most fan-requested features since the launch” of Apex Legends. He wasn’t lying. The Iron Crown Collection event was announced on the official Apex Legends Twitter account. Though the festivities and rewards were not fully detailed, the centerpiece is set to be an “all-new Solos limited time mode.” While PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and Fortnite …
Apex Legends mid-season event confirmed, sparking PVE rumors
M Alzamora
Apex Legends
For the second season in a row, Apex Legends is hosting a mid-season event. Electronic Arts discussed its plans in a recent investor’s call. The company stopped just shy of offering any hard details, but the event will commence at some point in the middle of August. As many fans have predicted, EA CEO Andrew Wilson suggested that mid-season events might become a standard part of the Apex Legends schedule. …
Dignitas is releasing its Apex Legends pro team
William Davis
Apex Legends
Dignitas is parting ways with its Apex Legends squad. On July 31, Dignitas made the announcement through Twitter. “Effective today, Dignitas has parted ways with our Apex Legends team. We are proud of their efforts over the past few months and wish them the best going forward,” wrote Dignitas. The team originally consisted of three players: Nhan “Shurimawizard” Le, Jaime “CrozzoveR” Alvarez, and former H1Z1 champion Miguel Angel “Mig_99” Medina. …
Apex Legends blew up the hero shooter genre and shook up battle royales in a permanent way; but where is the game headed at this point?
Few games have had as explosive a launch as Apex Legends. The game was effectively shadow-dropped and instantly became one of the biggest titles in its genre. Though it didn’t “kill” Fortnite as some predicted, and didn’t necessarily even slow down its growth, it did carve out a niche of its own.
But where did Apex go from there? And where is the game headed at this point? Here’s everything there is to know about Apex Legends’ history and future.
What is Apex Legends?
Apex Legends is a hero shooter developed by Respawn Entertainment, the creators of the Titanfall series.
The game launched in 2019 with a surprising shadow drop. At the time, Fortnite was enjoying incredible mainstream visibility both online and even across mainstream media. Late-night TV shows, morning news programs, and radio DJs around the world were discussing this incredibly popular video game that teenagers were obsessing over.
It’s no surprise that an enormous publisher like EA Games would make a push to imitate its success. It did so in a surprising way, however.
The game launched on February 4, 2019, with no marketing beforehand. Instead, EA Games worked directly with some of the biggest Fortnite-focused streamers at the time, including Tyler “Ninja” Blevins. These Fortnite streamers were reportedly paid millions of dollars to showcase the competition, which proved to be a major success.
Official statements claimed that Apex Legends garnered millions of unique players within a day of its launch, and 25 million within its first week. In 2022, EA stated that the game had surpassed $2 billion in revenue throughout its lifespan.
Apex Legends sets itself apart with fast movement and action
Apex Legends combines gameplay elements from both the battle royale and hero shooter genres. The title is a first-person shooter where players are typically placed into a team of three. Teams air drop into a level that shrinks as the game progresses, and need to procure weapons and armor on site.
While this sounds very similar to Fortnite and PUBG: Battlegrounds, Apex Legends set itself apart by folding in hero shooter-style characters. Each playable character has a handful of abilities that can be used to help allies or harm enemies. These abilities varied wildly, ranging from tracking enemies’ footsteps to healing allies to launching one’s entire team into the sky to reposition.
Even in comparison to Fortnite, this made for a fast-paced gameplay experience. This was complemented by other mechanics.
Movement in Apex Legends was set apart by the ability to quickly scale obstacles, crouch, and slide down hills and stairs. This makes firefights quick and frantic.
Not only that, but the experience of allies being downed was significantly more dynamic. Downed players weren’t just forced to crawl; they had a shield they could use defensively or to help allies on offense. When a player is killed, they can be revived if allies interact with their body quickly enough and then interact with a respawn beacon. This mechanic wasn’t present in competing battle royales, and rewarded players for sticking around until the end of a game.
All this made for a highly engaging experience that maintained a strong place in the battle royale space.
Apex Legends popularity in flux after controversies
Though Apex Legends enjoyed an explosive launch and has generated billions of dollars in revenue, the game’s popularity has waned over time. EA Games doesn’t offer exact player count figures, nor do PlayStation, Xbox, or Nintendo. However, tracking services for Steam suggest that Apex Legends suffered a marked decline in its player count across 2023 and 2024.
The game hit an all-time peak on Steam in February 2023 with an average player count of 257,416 throughout the month, and a peak of 624,473, per Steam Charts. However, those numbers steeply declined in 2023, with those losses continuing into 2024 and 2025.
The exact reason is unclear, though the game has endured multiple major controversies.
Fans have long complained about the game’s loot box system, which forces completionists to spend a great deal of cash in order to acquire all the game’s premium skins. Complaints regarding hacking also came to a head publicly in 2024 when a hacker commandeered an Apex Legends esports event by injecting into competitors’ PCs.
Respawn also overhauled how the game’s battle pass system works, breaking up seasons into multiple parts while billing players for each part.
The game’s long-term future as one of the world’s most popular competitive games may be uncertain, but despite some questions, the game still remains one of the most popular live-service games in the world.
