Apex Legends game updates come in many shapes and sizes, but they’re usually fairly consistent. Each new season usually comes with a new legend, at times a new weapon, and somewhat less frequently an overhaul to an existing map. But instead of the regularly-scheduled new battle royale map that usually comes at the end of each year, Apex insider ThordanSmash says something that could be even bigger is coming.
In a YouTube video posted today, ThordanSmash reported that there would most likely be no new battle royale map in 2023, which would mark the first year in Apex where players wouldn’t get a major new map. Instead, Thordan says Respawn is cooking up a more fundamental upgrade to the game: a big overhaul to Apex’s engine.
Presumably, an engine upgrade to Apex would try to accomplish many things at the same time. This could include just getting the game to run more smoothly, trying to make game-breaking bugs less frequent, or even enabling a stronger anti-cheat system. Thordan also mentioned Valve rebuilding its Counter-Strike engine for CS2 and shouted out improved audio as another possible goal of the engine overhaul.
While players will undoubtedly be unhappy about missing out on a new battle royale map, if Thordan’s info turns out to be accurate, an overhaul to how the game runs would probably be worth it if it can accomplish fixes to even a few of the aforementioned issues that seem to continually plague the game over and over again.
The big game upgrade isn’t all that Apex has in store, either. Thordan noted that instead of a map in season 19 filling the end-of-year new map slot where the game’s new maps are usually introduced, the Respawn team will be doing a more thorough map update to Storm Point. Teasers around Storm Point this season have indicated that a major storm is on its way to the island, and that storm will result in big changes on one of Respawn’s most polarizing maps.
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While many of the game’s pros and streamers have come around on Storm Point and prefer it to the game’s other maps, it’s still not very popular with the game’s casual player base due to its large size and uneven pacing of games. Since most public trios matches (and even ranked matches) feature large swathes of players hot-dropping and dying quickly off of spawn, it’s not uncommon to get a Storm Point game where players have big lulls in action or may not even see any other teams at all until the very final moments of a game.
All the upgrades and overhauls should lead the game into a successful 2024, when Thordan says a new battle royale map will take Apex back to its roots with a battle royale map currently labeled as “District.” This will apparently be Apex’s take on a Titanfall 2 map, complete with wall-running elements.
As it stands, we’ll just have to wait and see exactly what’s in store for Apex as season 17 continues on until Aug. 8, when season 18 gears up for launch.
