In its recent earnings call, EA has provided further insights into their plans for the popular hero shooter Apex Legends and what its player base can expect moving forward.
Apex Legends 2 Not In EA's Interests as It Focuses Efforts on Player Base Retention
Apex Legends' Top Spot In Hero Shooter Genre Is Important to EA
Apex Legends is set to launch its 23rd season next month in early November. Despite being one of the most popular franchises in the gaming world, the game has seen a decline in player engagement since its launch in 2019, missing its revenue targets. EA is planning to address this through "fundamental changes."
During the company's Q2 earnings call, CEO Andrew Wilson discussed Apex Legends' performance, emphasizing the need for "meaningful systematic innovation that fundamentally changes the way the game plays."
While a decline in numbers might suggest a sequel like "Apex Legends 2," Wilson's comments indicate that EA is not interested in pursuing a sequel, given the game's top position in the hero shooter genre.
"We are currently managing the trajectory of the business," Wilson stated. "However, given the strength of the brand, the size of our global community, and our position in the top tier of free-to-play live service games, we believe we can return the business to growth over time."
Wilson noted that Season 22's performance below expectations has provided valuable insights into how EA should continue to improve the game. "Following changes to the battle pass structure, we did not see the expected increase in monetization," he said. Wilson then outlined two key observations from the free-to-play FPS category:
"First, in the competitive landscape where brand, a strong core player base, and high-quality mechanics are crucial, Apex has proven to be a compelling franchise and an industry leader," Wilson remarked. "Second, to drive significant growth and re-engagement, substantial systematic changes are necessary. We will continue to focus on retention and a broad range of content to serve our global community as we work towards more significant, innovative changes in the future."
Overall, EA appears more interested in continuously enhancing the existing Apex Legends rather than developing an entirely new game with an "Apex Legends 2." "Typically, in live service games at scale, Version 2 has rarely been as successful as Version 1," Wilson added.
Apex Legends Slated for Innovative Updates On Season By Season Basis
Wilson emphasized that their current goal is to ensure that Apex Legends' global player base continues to receive support and innovative, creative content on a season-by-season basis. He assured players that their time and effort invested in the game will be safeguarded, as the planned changes will be implemented 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."
"Any time we force a global player community to choose between their past investments and future innovation, it’s not beneficial for our community," he explained. "Our objective is to innovate within the core experience, and you can see this happening from season to season as our seasons become progressively larger and we introduce new key gameplay modalities."
EA has already begun implementing these changes in the Apex Legends experience, Wilson said, noting that their plans to recover from declining player engagement will involve "different modalities of play beyond the current core mechanics." He added, "We believe we can achieve these goals without separating the experience, and our team is actively working on this now."
