When Apex Legends first launched, it was on track to dominate the battle royale genre, besting titles like PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and Fortnite. Yet the BR title has suffered due to a lack of content and other issues, which could potentially have a negative impact on the valuation of Apex Legends and the overall healthiness of publisher Electronic Arts' stock.
Before moving forward, it's worth mentioning that EA's stock has not yet dropped, but this is speculation based on the current trends around Apex Legends, which currently eats up a solid portion of EA's valuation. Perhaps the foremost influence on this situation is the Twitch and Google data currently circling Apex in comparison to its biggest competitor, Fortnite. As it stands, Apex searches are dominated by its competitor, with EA's title only having 10% of the Google searches, less than 20% of its Twitch base, and less than 4% of its YouTube search base compared to Fortnite.
While this data is not wholly indicative of the situation, there are also a number of contributing factors. It is noteworthy that the huge amounts of traffic Apex earned when it was first launched was acquired non-organically, meaning that streamers like Ninja were paid to play Apex Legends. And when these streamers turned away from the game, so did a significant portion of the player base.
Various reasons saw popular streamers move away from Apex Legends, with those most influential today frequently discussing leaving the game. For example, the popular streamer Michael "Shroud" Grzesiek has previously criticized the Wingman nerf and been unsatisfied with the title for various other issues. All of which seems to stem from Apex's slow-going approach following its quick release.
Where battle royale titles do best is the frequent updates and post-launch material in the game, but many consider Apex Legends lacking in its Battle Pass design, character release schedule, and update department. And what initially made Apex unique in the saturated battle royale market has been copied by Fortnite, namely respawning and its ping system.
However, it is worth mentioning that Apex has time to turn it around, but the coming weeks may be crucial. Yet, even if EA's stocks manage to fall as a result of Apex Legends' decline, Respawn Entertainment's multiplayer- and microtransaction-free Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order launches this fall, meaning the publisher could quickly bounce back from its stagnation or decline.
Apex Legends is out now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.