Apex Legends is set to get bigger again in 2024 as the development team at EA looks to expand the title past its traditional battle royale universe into “more modalities.”
The next phase for Apex Legends will explore new ways to play the game, EA chief executive Andrew Wilson shared during a Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom conference on March 6 (hat-trip to VGC for transcribing). The EA boss went on to tease that players should expect these new modalities of play to come to fruition this year.
There was no further information shared as to what these “modalities” will actually look like, but nonetheless, EA is looking to increase the scope of Apex drastically this year, and that shouldn’t be any surprise. During the conference, Wilson shared just how big the battle royale has become, frequently boasting that the game has had an incredible 75 percent player retention rate in the five years it has been live.
One place we could look to see what’s in store with Apex is direct rival Fortnite. Epic Games has gone above and beyond in recent times to take the popular battle royale beyond its biggest mode, with limited-time and permanent releases like LEGO Fortnite and Fortnite Festival, both of which have been relatively big hits; the same could be planned in Apex’s worlds.
Either way, during 2024, the main objective for the Apex team is to make the battle royale more player-friendly, especially for fresh-faced gamers. The long-term plan for the title is to become something that’s a place for everybody and giving new players an easy way to get into the action is paramount to achieving that goal. Efforts towards this goal have already begun with the release of Season 20, but we expect that it will ramp up again in coming months.
Alongside the goal of welcoming new players, EA wants to see Apex expand into new territories where it isn’t quite as popular, like Europe and Asia. Wilson explains that while the demand is there, Apex hasn’t quite been able to break through with its engagement and monetization yet.
Ultimately there’s no slowing down for Apex and 2024 might be the best year yet for players. With newer players coming into the fold, the title is poised to grow further which in turn should lead to more investment and more content for longtime fans to enjoy. We’ll have to wait and see how this all plays out as the Apex seasons progress.
