Apex Legends, the latest game from Respawn Entertainment and the company’s first foray into the battle royale genre, has saved EA stock prices by bringing in more than 10 million players during its first 72 hours of release. This latest impressive feat for the game, which is set in the same universe as the Titanfall series, comes not long after Apex Legends saw a million unique players in its first eight hours of release.
News of Apex Legends’ surprising release was leaked before Respawn probably initially wanted, but it did little to hamper the game’s immediate popularity. While there are plenty of battle royale games in the market today, from PlayerUnknown’s BattleGrounds to the highly popular Fortnite, Apex Legends has impressed many since its free-to-play release. Receiving critical and fan praise for its polish and unique features for a battle royale title, like role-based Legends characters and an intuitive ping system, Apex Legends has already made its mark on the genre.
According to Respawn Entertainment CEO Vince Zampella (via: EA), Apex Legends achieved over 10 million players during its first 72 hours. Additionally, more than 1 million concurrent players were on the game’s servers during this same period. As pointed out by Twitter user Benji-Sales, the release of Apex Legends also saw a rise in Respawn’s parent company EA’s stock prices. This rise has recuperated the company’s reported losses during their quarterly earning report and the stock prices are now even higher than they were before the drop initially occurred.
Considering the financial underperformance of the first two Titanfall games (though both were still well-received by critics and the game’s small, but loyal group of fans), it has to be a relief for both Respawn and EA that Apex Legends is not only performing so well, but that it’s single-handedly taken some financial pressure off of EA in the short term. In terms that are perhaps more relevant to gamers, however, this level of success can hopefully lead to the revitalization of the entire Titanfall IP. While Titanfall 3 is confirmed to not currently be in development thanks to Respawn’s focus on Apex Legends, other Titanfall-set properties are expected to release later this year.
Depending on how well Apex Legends performs long-term, a proper third entry in the Titanfall main series could very well become a reality once again, though it wouldn’t be surprising if Respawn wanted to put a lot of their focus on the free-to-play battle royale title for the foreseeable future. Either way, it’s certainly encouraging to see the company have a proper hit on their hands, especially with a game as polished and smartly designed as Apex Legends.
More: Apex Legends Download Guide: How to Install on Xbox, PS4, & PC
Source: EA/Benji-Sales
