EA’s focus this week has been the reveal of the new ‘Battlefield Labs’ in the leadup to the next major entry, but it’s not forgotten about its other FPS hit Apex Legends.
Unfortunately for EA, Respawn Entertainment’s free-to-play shooter has experienced a bit of a slump in recent times, with the “business of that franchise” not heading in the direction the company wants, according to EA’s CEO Andrew Wilson.
The long-term plan now is to potentially release a “2.0” version of Apex Legends, which follows Wilson’s comments last October when he suggested “version two” wasn’t in consideration:
Andrew Wilson: “What I think we’ve demonstrated as a company is an ability to build franchises that last 10, 20, 30 years and growing. Our expectation is that Apex will be also one of those franchises and that sometime, on a longer-term time horizon, there will be an even bigger, more meaningful update to that broader game experience and Apex 2.0, if you will. This will not be the final incarnation of Apex.”
One thing also noted is how a second major version of Apex (or even a major update) would probably happen “after” the new Battlefield game, which is apparently scheduled to arrive within the fiscal year of 2026.
“You should imagine we probably wouldn’t drop that on top of a Battlefield launch. And so, from a timing standpoint, our thinking right now is that that would exist post Battlefield…We do believe that there should be a more major update that will probably happen after a Battlefield launch just in terms of timing and the team is diligently working through what that would be. And then longer term, our expectation is that we’ll continue to expand what this franchise is and how we support a core community of highly competitive players and new communities that want to come and experience all the greatness that Apex has to offer.”
Apex Legends is still available as a free-to-download title on the Switch eShop and has received multiple updates since its launch on Nintendo’s system.
As for the Battlefield series, EA hasn’t said anything about a possible Switch 2 release just yet, but it has already entertained the idea of series like EA Sports FC and even Madden on the new Nintendo platform – with the CEO noting how EA’s series can “find real energy” on new platforms.