There’s a chance that Respawn Entertainment’s Apex Legends, the free-to-play battle royale, is coming to mobile.
It’s only available to play on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC right now, but the CEO of its publishing company Electronic Arts (EA) has suggested that the game could be expanded to the mobile platform.
“We are looking at how to take the game to mobile and cross-play over time,” said Andrew Wilson, during the company’s third quarter earnings call at the end of 2018.
Apex was released just over a month ago. It has seen tremendous success in the gaming market, exceeding 50 million downloads, and it’s quickly becoming the most played game on the PS4 platform—but Apex still has a long way to go.
The jump to the mobile platform could be just what Respawn and EA need to take over the battle royale market. Epic Games’ Fortnite and Bluehole’s PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds are Apex’s biggest competitors at the moment. The two games both have a considerable amount of their player base on mobile and continue to drive much of their revenue from the platform.
There are already fake Apex games on the Android store, and the demand for a mobile version of the game is only increasing alongside its popularity.
The biggest market that an Apex mobile game would tap into is China. The country is a huge advocate of mobile games, and has previously, mainly due to its vast population, carried games like PUBG. If an Apex mobile game were to be released, it’s likely that China would be at its forefront.
For the time being, there’s no access to a mobile version of the game. Other than the CEO of EA, Respawn hasn’t once mentioned its possible release. If a mobile game is planned, it appears that it’ll most likely be released a long way down the line.
Apex is a graphics-intensive game and it will be difficult to create a mobile copy that lives up to expectations. Mobile technology is progressing, however, and it could be a possibility in the future. For the time being, Respawn is focusing on maintaining the game, fixing bugs, and creating new content in preparation for season one.
