Apex Legends is currently playable on the next generation of consoles (PS5, Xbox Series S & X), but the only incentive to play on them over the last generation of consoles is a modest boost from 1080p to a 1440p resolution. That may change this year, as a developer from Respawn says that 120 FPS in Apex is a “high priority” for the developer.
Recently, Respawn spoke with fans and answered their questions about Apex Legends. Topics ranged from confirming that a Caustic nerf is on the way soon, to discussing the possibility of adding a Ranked Duos Mode. Given that the new consoles have been out for a few months now, it was natural that someone would ask if Apex was going to receive any updates that would take advantage of the new hardware.
Steve Ferreira, who is the team director at Respawn’s newly-created Vancouver studio, explained what is going on behind the scenes in the recent Reddit AMA. Ferreira says that the developer is looking at balancing new features with what it “think[s] is best for the overall player experience." Respawn's emphasis on how Apex feels means that 120 FPS is “high on the priority list.”
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Rival battle royale Fortnite received an update for 120 FPS support in December of last year, the caveat being that it lowers the resolution from 2160p to 1440p for PS5 and Xbox Series X while the less-powerful Xbox Series S goes from 1200p to 1080p when enabling 120 FPS. While both Apex Legends and Fortnite are similar in many ways, Fortnite runs on Epic Games’ own Unreal Engine, whereas Apex runs on Valve’s Source Engine, so there are no guarantees that Apex will end up with the same feature set as Fortnite just because they are both battle royales.
Many players in the replies to Ferreira’s comment said that they would gladly trade resolution for the boost in framerate. But judging by Ferreira’s comments, it sounds like any next-gen updates are still a ways off. After all, Respawn is busy with keeping up a consistent stream of new content and is preparing to launch Apex on another piece of hardware, the Nintendo Switch, 0n March 9.
Other things discussed in the Reddit AMA include details on how the new Legend Fuse’s ultimate was going to initially be way more overpowered, and that Loba’s tactical may be getting a buff in the future, as the studio is currently playtesting some new changes to the Legend.
Apex Legends is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One and releases on March 9 for the Nintendo Switch.