In a recent earnings call, Electronic Arts (EA) provided a detailed outlook on the future of their popular hero shooter, Apex Legends, and what the game's community can anticipate moving forward.
EA's Focus on Retaining Apex Legends' Player Base Over Developing a Sequel
As Apex Legends prepares to launch its 23rd season in early November, EA continues to recognize the game's stature as a leading franchise in the gaming industry. However, the title has seen a decline in player engagement and missed its revenue targets since its debut in 2019. In response, EA is committed to implementing "fundamental changes" to revitalize the game.
During the Q2 earnings call, EA's CEO, Andrew Wilson, addressed the performance of Apex Legends, emphasizing the need for "meaningful systematic innovation that fundamentally changes the way the game plays." Despite the dip in player numbers, Wilson made it clear that EA is not considering an "Apex Legends 2" due to the game's strong position within the top tier of free-to-play live service games.
"We are currently managing the trajectory of the business," Wilson stated. "Given the strength of the brand, the size of our global community, and our position at the top of these free-to-play live service games, we believe we can return the business to growth over time."
Wilson also reflected on the underwhelming performance of Season 22, which led to insights on necessary improvements. "Following changes to the battle pass structure, we did not see the anticipated increase in monetization," he noted. He further elaborated on two critical observations within the free-to-play FPS market:
"First, in the competitive landscape, brand, a robust core player base, and high-quality mechanics are more crucial than ever. Apex Legends has proven to be a compelling and enduring franchise for us," Wilson said. "Second, to drive significant growth and re-engage players, substantial systemic changes are essential. We will continue to focus on player retention and a broad content offering to serve our global community as we aim for more innovative changes in the future."
EA's strategy is centered on enhancing the current version of Apex Legends rather than developing a sequel. "In the context of live service games at scale, Version 2 has almost never been as successful as Version 1," Wilson remarked, underscoring EA's commitment to the original game.
Continuous Innovation and Support for Apex Legends
Wilson emphasized EA's goal to support Apex Legends' global player base with ongoing innovative and creative content delivered season by season. He assured players that their time and effort invested in the game would be respected and protected as EA implements changes. "We will build these changes in a way that players don’t have to give up the progress they’ve made or the investment they’ve put into the existing ecosystem," he explained.
"Any time we force a global player community to choose between their past investments and future innovations, that’s not a good position to put them in. Our objective is to continue innovating the core experience, which you can see happening from season to season as our seasons grow progressively larger and we change key gameplay elements within those seasons."
EA has already begun working on these changes to enhance the Apex Legends experience. Wilson added that their approach to recovering from declining player engagement involves introducing different gameplay modalities beyond the current core mechanics. "We believe we can achieve these improvements together without separating the experience, and our team is actively working on this now," he concluded.
