The live-service model is fickle. While it’s served some games extremely well, the live-service approach has also condemned its fair share of games to early retirement. Right now,Apex Legendscertainly belongs to the former camp, though its future seems a little cloudier than it once was. For the last four years,Apex Legendshas proven itself to be one of the few battle royale games worth hanging around for, and while that’s definitely still the case, the game’s going to need to do a lot more to keep its audience around for the long haul.
A few weeks ago, Respawn announced that it was opening a brand-new studio solely to support the future development ofApex Legends.But what really got fans talking wasa statement made byApex Legends' director, Steven Ferreira, who claimed that the game will be around for “more than 10 or 15 years.” Though this claim makes a lot of sense, it’s also an extremely bold one, andApex Legendsmay need to finally embraceFortnite’s content model if it actually wants its vision to become a reality.
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It’s Finally Time for Apex Legends to Borrow Fortnite’s Content Model
Releasing almost two years afterFortnite, it’s clear thatApex Legendswas influenced in many ways by Epic Games' smash-hit battle royale. Thoughthe live-service modelhas existed in the gaming industry for decades, it rarely existed outside the world of MMOs untilFortnitecame along.Fortnite’s free-to-play approach and its introduction of a Battle Pass have changed the gaming industry for good, withApex Legendsbeing one of the few that’s adopted a similar model and actually found some success. However,Apex Legends' formula doesn’t share all of its DNA withFortnite.
ThoughApex Legendsnaturally draws comparisons withhero shooters likeOverwatchand battle royales likeFortnite, its live-service model is definitely of its own design, and that’s worked fairly well so far. Much like other live-service games,Apex Legendsreceives a new “Season” of content every few months. This Season update usually brings with it a brand new playable Legend, along with some gameplay tweaks, new cosmetics, and occasionally some new content like weapons, and very rarely, a new map. These content drops aren’t huge, but they’ve done a good job of keeping fans invested.
However,Apex Legendsis currently turning a bit of a corner.Apex Legends' last Season update was a bit of a divisive one among fans. For the first time inApexhistory, no new playable Legend was added with the Season 16 update. Instead, Season 16 focused primarily on tweaking large swathes of the game, from its firing range to a new Legend class system.Apex LegendsSeason 16made some good changes, but in terms of new content, the offering was sparse, and with long waits between each Season this hasn’t done much to convince fans thatApex Legendshas another five years in it, let alone 10-15.
IfApex Legendsreally wants to succeed for another decade, then it must finally embraceFortnite’s approach to live-service. For almost six years,Fortnitehas remained one of the most popular games on the market, and the biggest reason behind its success is the consistency of its updates. Every week or so, some form of new content is added toFortnite. This can just be some new cosmetics, a weapon refresh, or a new set of challenges, but no matter how small, these frequent content updates keep fans coming back. Every few months,Fortnitealso receives a new Season. UnlikeApex Legends,Fortnite’s new Seasons bring major content to the table every time, always including some big map changes, an extensive Battle Pass and additional rewards system, and a new storyline. IfApex Legendswants to stick around for the long haul, then something has to change.
Apex Legendsis available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
