Earlier this week, Titanfall developer Respawn Entertainment surprised many by releasing free to play battle royale game Apex Legends. With more than 2.5 million people playing the game, it has rocketed to the top of Twitch in terms of viewership. The game has gained so much traction that other battle royale games are taking notice.

This much was evidenced when Brendan "PlayerUnknown" Greene, the creator of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, tweeted about Apex Legends yesterday morning. While many may have been expecting a snarky or sarcastic tweet that yet another studio has gotten in on the battle royale trend that PUBG started, Greene's message was positive and encouraging. "Really great job," tweeted the developer, before adding "fantastic launch with a great new take on the battle royale game mode." Greene even finished the tweet off with "<3", a heart.

It didn't take long for the official Apex Legends Twitter account to return the love. The account told Greene that Apex Legends stands "on the shoulders of giants," before thanking Greene and the PUBG development team for "paving the way."

Many of the replies to the tweets from Apex Legends and Greene were positive. Fans of the battle royale game genre who have followed it from PUBG's release to the launch of Epic Games' Fortnite and now to Apex Legends say it's good to see two rival titles getting along. It wasn't that long ago that PUBG developer PUBG Corp threatened a lawsuit against Epic Games over the similarities between their two games, so an encouraging tweet is a step forward.

Others think that it's unusual that Greene would praise a game that has such potential to "kill" PUBG. Apex Legends has been performing well since launch, attracting many players. Respawn Entertainment is also looking to offer cross-platform play, and this could potentially grow the player base of the new game even more.

PUBG, meanwhile, has struggled to fend off new competition as games like Fortnite and Apex Legends steal its thunder. Outrage at gameplay-shifting changes and the game's ongoing cheating problem have also led PUBG players to consider other battle royale games.

It's too soon to say how Apex Legends could shake up the battle royale genre and what long-term effects it could have on PUBG (and Fortnite). But for now, it seems like these two potential rivals are perfectly happy coexisting.

Apex Legends is available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

Source: PLAYERUNKNOWN – Twitter