Apex Legends continues to make EA a lot of money. The battle royale game is set to become another of the publisher’s major earning properties by the end of the fiscal year.
Commenting on the growth of the multiplayer game, EA COO and CFO Blake Jorgensen says it should be worth a billion dollars by March 2021 (ta, Gamasutra). “Apex Legends is on track to become our latest billion-dollar franchise by the end of the fiscal year,” Jorgensen said. “All of our studios continue to execute amazingly well and have enabled us to launch an industry-leading eight games since the beginning of the fiscal year, while continuing to deliver live services content and expand onto new platforms.”
In terms of raw earnings, the FPS game from developer Respawn Entertainment is expected to rake in around $500 million for the fiscal year, with net bookings up 24% year-on-year. According to EA, live-service games and other sources brought in $846 million last quarter, and a graph supplied shows that Apex Legends is on par with The Sims 4 for revenue, outgrossing Madden Ultimate Team, but still in the shadow of Fifa Ultimate Team.
“Our focus continues to be on everything we can do for our people, our players, and our communities,” Jorgensen adds. “Thanks to the amazing dedication and determination of our teams at Electronic Arts, we’re able to deliver the games, experiences and content choices that our players are looking for during this challenging time.”
Apex Legends launched on Steam this week, where the free game was an instant hit. The Season 7 battle pass has been rejigged so progression’s a little easier, and we’ve guides on Apex Legends weapons and Apex Legends characters, so you can get stuck right in.