EA and Respawn are working to bring Apex Legends to several new audiences. In an earnings call last night (via SeekingAlpha), the company’s COO and CFO, Blake Jorgensen, revealed that several plans were in place regarding the future of the newest kid on the battle royale block.
During the call, Jorgensen said that EA was “in advanced negotiations to bring Apex Legends to China and to mobile.” The company was not able to provide a timeframe for either the game’s Chinese release or a mobile port, but Jorgensen’s comments suggest that negotiations are still ongoing. He also revealed that EA will be self-publishing the game in Korea.
Should everything come off, it’ll be a pretty impressive set of feats. Apex Legends isn’t particularly gory as battle royales go, so should get around China’s videogame approvals process (although that can never be guaranteed). When it comes to a mobile port, however, Respawn’s effort is one of the prettiest and fastest-paced examples of the genre, and getting it running well on a handheld device sounds like it’ll be difficult.
While some questions have been asked about how well Apex Legends has held onto its impressive player count, mobile and Chinese versions of the game should give it a significant boost. Either way, Jorgensen doesn’t seem worried, as he said that EA is “hugely excited about the future of Apex Legends,” and that “we have big plans for the Legends and the world they compete in.”
Related: Here are all the details on the Apex Legends battle pass
Apex Legends seems to have suffered as a result of its slow update schedule, but Respawn does seem to have some changes in its pipeline. New Legend Wattson should be on his way later this season, and a new weapon and a series of map changes are on their way in Season 2. Whether those tweaks will be enough to keep fans hanging around remains to be seen, but they’re definitely a step in the right direction.