Apex Legendshas seen steady growth since it was first released. The game’s esports streaming numbers have taken off recently, and in arecent interview with The Esports Observer, EA SVP Todd Sitrin confirmed that EA and Respawn are working “very closely together” to makeApex Legends Mobilea household competitive game with the capability to grow into its own esports scene.
Sitrin told The Esports Observer that EA is confident inApex Legendsesports ecosystem, despite the COVID-19 pandemic striking just after an esports program was initiated for the game. Sitrin also said that the company “is a big believer in mobile esports” and specifically mentionedApex Legends MobileandFifa Mobileas two major forthcoming mobile esports opportunities.
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It is important to recognize the different roles that EA and Respawn have in this project to foster an esports scene inApex Legends Mobile. Respawn, the developer of the game, handles supervision of gameplay mechanics and the game design ofApex Legends, while EA brings their global influence and business strategies to the table. Respawn and EA don’t operate completely independently of one another, but generally, collaboration like this signals the level of importance EA is placingon theApex Legendsbrand.
Theconfidence EA has inApex Legends Mobileis founded on the game’s steady growth over the last two years. The game hit a milestone of 100 million players during April 2021, and the esports scene keeps growing as well, with a new $1 million prize pool announced last month for the Global Championships. The addition of the new Arenas game mode boosted the game’s popularity recently, and it has been a regular amongst the most-viewed games on Twitch since it released.
According to Sitrin, EA is particularly interested in expanding its games into Asian markets, where mobile gaming is seeing a sharp increase in popularity. Beta tests forApex Legends Mobileare taking place in India and the Philippines, andFifa Mobileis already a huge hit across the continent.
The forthcomingApex Legendsmobile port is the latest in a trend of popular Battle Royales that have been ported to mobile devices.FortniteandPlayer Unknown’s Battlegroundsare two other games that saw success in their mobile ports, althoughFortnitehas since been removed from the iOS App Store due to alawsuit between Epic Games and Apple. Some monetization aspects ofApex Legends Mobile,particularly on iOS devices, will likely be officially announced after the Epic Games and Apple trial concludes, though.
Apex Legends Mobileis slated for a mid-to-late 2021 release on iOS and Android devices, with Beta testing available in a limited number of regions.
