Respawn will ‘never make Apex Legends 2’

Respawn is committed for the long haul with Apex Legends, according to executive producer Drew McCoy, who says the studio never intends to make a sequel.

Having launched the game in March, Respawn is gearing up to release Apex Legends season 2 in July, and McCoy told USgamer the current plan is to support the title for years to come.

“I mean, most people don’t realize how long it takes to make anything, and so a character for us takes about a year and a half to make,” he said. “So we’ve been playing Wattson since early last year, but we have so much stuff in the pipe right now coming that people are always like, ‘So what are you guys gonna do for this or that?’

“Like dude, we’re thinking years ahead at this point. We do believe in this game as a live game. We’re never gonna make an Apex 2; hoping next Season 72 is awesome. That’s kind of where our head is at: how are we setting this up for the long term.”

In addition to new character Wattson, Apex Legends season 2 will introduce a new weapon, a ranked mode and a “map event” which has been linked to the alien wildlife found in Kings Canyon.

Respawn has also confirmed Apex Legends season 2 will feature daily and weekly challenges that contribute to a player’s levelling, and that the time to reach Battle Pass level 100 should overall be significantly reduced.

The game’s first season, Wild Frontier, launched in March 2019 and was criticised by some players for a lack of meaningful content.

EA CEO Andrew Wilson said this month that games as a service like Apex Legends will become “foundational” to the industry as technology and playing habits evolve. Pointing to the way in which social media platforms increasingly satisfy the basic human need to interact with others, he said creating online games that satisfy this “core motivation” will be crucial to success for publishers.