Apex Legends came out of nowhere, launching without any pre-release announcement and quickly becoming a huge hit in the battle royale space. Apex Legends, which is set in the Titanfall universe, has already managed to net over 10 million players worldwide, but that number could grow considerably if the game came to iOS and Android mobile devices like its competitors. And as it turns out, EA already has a mobile version of Apex Legends in its plans.
EA CEO Andrew Wilson discussed the possibility of a mobile version of Apex Legends in a recent investors call. "As I said earlier, we are looking at how to take the game to mobile and cross-play over time, and I also expect that this game will have tremendous value in Asia, and we’re in conversations about that."
The mobile market is a lucrative one for battle royale games, with both Fortnite and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds releasing on mobile to huge success. Considering the proven success of battle royale games on mobile, it's easy to see how a port of Apex Legends to iOS and Android devices makes sense, though there would be some technical hurdles to get over first.
Apex Legends may be similar to other battle royale games, but it's a bit more involved thanks to the use of special abilities, Ultimates, the ping system, and more. For these reasons, it seems like coming up with a quality mobile control scheme for Apex Legends would be a bit more difficult than doing the same for Fortnite or PUBG. Apex Legends is also more graphically intensive than its competition, and would likely suffer a significant graphical downgrade when ported to mobile devices. However, if EA and Respawn are able to come up with ways around these issues, then Apex Legends could become an even bigger hit than it already is.
Of course, fans will want to see the PC and console version receive continued support despite the potential mobile port, and that support definitely seems to be coming. A ranked mode has already been leaked, and one has to imagine that more playable Legends are on deck as well.
Of course, Apex Legends is still in its infancy, and it's hard to say at this point if its immediate success will be long-lasting or if the game is just a flash in the pan. If it's the former, then a mobile port seems like an inevitability.
Apex Legends is out now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Source: Techspot