EA’s New Battle Royale Shooter Apex Legends Racks Up 1 Million Players On Opening Day

Apex Legends. Apex Legends came out of nowhere with the game reveal and official PC and console launches all happening in one day.

So why the secrecy? Lead Producer Drew McCoy explains in an interview with Eurogamer.

“There are some people who think there are too many battle royale games or it's a fad, the world thinks we're making Titanfall 3 and we're not - this is what we're making.

To try and convince a sceptical audience for months with trailers and hands-on articles, we're just like 'let the game speak for itself' - it's the most powerful antidote to potential problems.

We're doing a free to play game, with essentially loot boxes, after we were bought by EA, and it's not Titanfall 3. It's the perfect recipe for a marketing plan to go awry, so why have that - let's just ship the game and let players play.”

In spite of its unconventional release, Apex Legends managed to rake in 1 million players within 8 hours of the game’s launch. Apparently, letting the game “speak for itself” proved to be an effective marketing strategy for EA and Respawn.

I’m so overwhelmed right now, @PlayApex broke a million unique players in under 8 hours. ❤️❤️❤️

Thank you so much for showing up and being part of this with @Respawn you are amazing!! pic.twitter.com/lvNgfwwKhl

— Vince Zampella (@VinceZampella) February 5, 2019

Apex Legends is a squad-based battle royale shooter set in the same universe as Titanfall and promises to be “The Next Evolution of Battle Royale”. `Check out the official launch and gameplay trailers right after the break.