Want new, fresh Apex Legends action? Then you’re going to have to wait. Respawn Entertainment, the developers behind the battle royale shooter, has doubled down on its plans to focus on seasonal update content for the game.
Following a saddening report about rival Epic Games’ developers working to brutal schedules in order to keep Fortnite’s constant flow of updates coming, Respawn is instead looking to deliver content in larger, more meaningful chunks with less frequency than its competition.
“We don’t want to overwork the team,” said Respawn Entertainment’s CEO Vince Zampella in an interview with Gamasutra:
"The thought was, 'Hey we kind of have something that's blowing up here, do we want to start trying to drop more content?' But I think you look at quality of life for the team. We don't want to overwork the team, and drop the quality of the assets we're putting out. We want to try and raise that."
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Fewer, better updates
It’s a stance that’s been echoed by the game’s executive producer Drew McCoy, who wrote in a message to Apex Legends players:
"We know that, in addition to addressing issues with the game, everyone is hungry for us to add new content. The studio culture that we've worked hard to cultivate, and the health of our team are very important. We take those things into account when we discuss our content roadmap, the production schedule, and the frequency in which we can update the game.
"Our long-term goal is to ensure Apex Legends always feels alive and thriving, with a focus on quality of content over novelty or speed of release. At the same time, we want to maintain our culture as a development team and avoid crunch that can quickly lead to burnout or worse."
That’s not to say there aren’t big changes on the way for Apex Legends. McCoy also stated that the game’s Season 2 Battle Pass will be taking onboard all of the criticism levelled at the game’ first Battle Pass, and should deliver “more meaningful content”, including a new legend, map changes and a new weapon.
And if you’re a fan of Respawn’s other sci-fi shooter series, Titanfall? It’s not been forgotten. McCoy re-iterated that plans to release a new Titanfall game this year remain in place, with the studio set to push out plans “for future Titanfall games” in the near future. The EA Play conference in June will be one to watch.
