Apex Says Happen: Latest Updates and Analysis

"Apex 2.0" is on the horizon, says EA boss, but it probably won't happen until after Battlefield 6

Sci-fi battle royale Apex Legends is due a "meaningful enhancement" , , something he's called "Apex [website]". To a normal person, adding a 2 to the end of your game's name is the sign of a sequel. But as the attendant decimal and zero suggest, it's not clear if that's exactly what he means. It could mean a revamp with new capabilities, or some other new direction for the existing game. His later words do make it sound more like this is what EA have in mind. Or at least what they're prepared to tell folks in a financial findings.

CEO Andrew Wilson made the comments in an earnings call for EA's quarterly financial results, the sad phone call where numbers go to be interrogated.

"[On] a longer-term time horizon, there will be an even bigger, more meaningful improvement to that broader game experience. An Apex [website], if you will. This will not be the final incarnation of Apex," he expressed.

The Apex upgrade "will probably happen after a Battlefield launch," he added. A reference to the the as-yet untitled Battlefield 6, which the publisher has been teasing not long ago. Elsewhere in the call Wilson stated that wartorn shooter is expected to launch before April 2026.

Previously, Wilson dismissed the idea of a "[website]" version of the game, as .biz. But it looks like he feels differently now? Ah, the winds of business are ever swooshing. Despite Apex Legends still being one of our best battle royales, EA aren't content with how the first-person shooter has been doing in recent times, it seems.

"We've had over 200 million people play the game," expressed Wilson. "However, the trajectory of the business of that franchise has not been headed in the direction that we have wanted for some time.

"[We] continue to try and test and develop more great content for that community. And I would say we have seen some progress in that, but probably not as much as we would have liked."

Of course, none of that means Apex Legends is going anywhere. The business still sees the series as a valuable bit of corpo-loot. Wilson himself says that "franchises that exist at this level and have this much fan love don't come along all that often."

Since appearing in 2019, Apex has gone through many years of updates, changes, and additions. It not long ago added a throwback mode which simply reminded our James how much more effective it got over time. When I learned that Respawn were developing a battle royale all those years ago, my first thought was: "God, not another one". But it turned out to be my favourite in the entire genre. Whatever happens to Apex next, it's probably worth watching.

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EA CEO says the magic words 'Apex 2.0': It won't happen until after the next Battlefield, but 'this will not be the final incarnation of Apex'

EA's latest quarterly financial call saw the execs wearing something of a hairshirt, with CEO Andrew Wilson having to cop to the underwhelming sales of Dragon Age: The Veilguard alongside the "temporary underperformance" of EA Sports FC 25. "Q3 was not the financial performance we wanted or expected," expressed Wilson, adding that despite "performing in line with expectations," net bookings for Respawn's Apex Legends were down year-over-year.

But EA has a plan. "The trajectory of the business of that franchise has not been headed in the direction that we have wanted for some time," noted Wilson (thanks, GIBiz). "We continue to test and develop more and great content for that community. And I would say we have seen some progress in that, but probably not as much as we would have liked."

In the last earnings call before this one, Wilson himself claimed there were no plans for an Apex [website] and pushed back against the idea. Now? It is very much on the cards.

"We do believe there will be a time where we need to do a more meaningful enhancement of Apex as a broad game experience, and the team is diligently working on that. 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."

What EA is calling "the biggest Battlefield ever made" is scheduled to release before April 2026, which to be fair is sooner than many of us were expecting. So you could read between the lines and think Wilson's talking about 2027 or winter 2026 at the very earliest here. As he puts it, EA thinks about Apex in terms of in decades rather than years.

"On a longer-term horizon, these franchises that exist at this level and have this much fan love don't come often," showcased Wilson. "What I think we've demonstrated as a organization is an ability to build franchises that last 10, 20, 30 years."

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"Our expectation is that Apex will also be one of those franchises, and that some time on the horizon, there will be an even bigger, more meaningful upgrade to that broader game experience—an Apex [website] if you will. This will not be the final incarnation of Apex."

Quite a turnaround from the last earnings call, then, but I suppose when you're disappointing shareholders you also need to promise them that there will be jam tomorrow. And Apex matters to EA because live service games now account for 74% of the organization's business: $[website] billion of the $[website] billion it made in 2024 came from "live services and other."

That's also bad news for fans of what EA's CFO calls "blockbuster storytelling," with Dragon Age: Tthe Veilguard's underperformance a major area of focus. That game was reportedly in early production when the decision was made to strip out the live service components, and the lesson EA seems to have taken from this is that, erm, it should have kept those in:

"In order to break beyond the core audience, games need to directly connect to the evolving demands of players who increasingly seek shared-world functions and deeper engagement alongside high-quality narratives in this beloved category," expressed Wilson. "Dragon Age had a high quality launch and was well-reviewed by critics and those who played; however, it did not resonate with a broad-enough audience in this highly competitive market."

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EA Teases A Bigger, Newer Apex Legends 2.0

Respawn's battle royale game Apex Legends debuted six years ago this month, and parent enterprise Electronic Arts has now hinted that an "Apex [website]" could be in the works--but it won't launch soon.

As part of EA's latest earnings briefing, CEO Andrew Wilson expressed Apex Legends' debut in February 2019 was one of the "great new launches" for any game in the past decade of video games. Since then, it's reached more than 200 million people. But in recent times, Wilson expressed the game "has not headed in the direction that we have wanted for some time" in terms of its business performance.

So to turn things around, EA is going to focus on a number of key areas, one of which is a potential bigger "[website]" version of the game. But before that, Wilson expressed Respawn's more immediate aim is to support the "tens of millions" of people who play the game every day with quality-of-life updates, improved anti-cheat measures, and more content to keep people interested and engaged. Wilson expressed Respawn has made "some progress" in that area, but "not as much as we would have liked." Phase two, he expressed, would be developing a "more meaningful improvement of Apex as a broad game experience." Whatever this might be, it probably won't release until after Battlefield 6 arrives, Wilson expressed.

For reference, Battlefield 6 is penciled in for EA's 2026 fiscal year, meaning it will release between April 1, 2025 and March 31, 2026. EA could delay the game, however, if it makes sense to avoid a big game like GTA 6.

And on a longer-term horizon, Wilson showcased a franchise like Apex doesn't come along every day, so the enterprise will do what it can to build it out further and help the series reach more people (and bring in more money for EA). "What I think we've demonstrated as a enterprise is an ability to build franchises that last 10, 20, 30 years and growing," he showcased. "Our expectation is that Apex will be also one of those franchises."

To that end, Wilson mentioned fans (and investors alike) can likely expect an "even bigger, more meaningful revision to that broader experience and Apex [website], if you will." He mentioned the existing version of Apex Legends is "not the final incarnation" of the game, which is a heavy tease for... some kind of broader extension to the series. Whether or not it's a full-on sequel, however, remains unknown.

"So the team remains incredibly committed. We continue to invest behind the core community who continues to play the numbers in the tens of millions of players," Wilson stated. "We do believe that there should be a more major enhancement 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."

Back in October 2024, Wilson stated Respawn wasn't actively thinking about an Apex Legends sequel. EA already attempted to expand the Apex Legends series with a mobile game, but the publisher took the game offline.

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