When Apex Legends first dropped out of virtually nowhere, it was a revelation. Thanks to some very beneficiant spending on influencer advertising and marketing from EA, it being part of the Titanfall universe, and its free nature, Apex Legends took the gaming world by storm. After skyrocketing to the highest of Twitch, the playerbase appears to have dwindled within the eyes of many, however Apex is unquestionably nonetheless probably the most standard battle royale video games on the market. Question is: with the hype bubble now burst, how many individuals play Apex Legends in 2021?
Just like Epic with Fortnite, Respawn and EA don’t make their concurrent participant counts publicly accessible. As neither of the video games are on Steam, we are able to’t confer with the simply findable numbers. Instead, we’ve to depend upon what the builders need to share, which is often after they hit vital milestones. In Apex Legends’ case, its most up-to-date landmark was 70 million gamers in October 2019.
However, this isn’t fairly as spectacular because it first seems. Since its launch in February 2019, Apex reached 2.5 million gamers in simply a few days and 10 million gamers in beneath every week. Just over every week after launch, Apex had 25 million gamers. Apex then hit 50 million gamers in March 2019, a month after launch. For Apex to then want an additional six months to hit 70 million gamers in October signifies a sure decline, however it’s far, removed from a lifeless sport
How Popular Is Apex Legends?
As talked about, attributable to how EA and Respawn relay info, it’s tough to determine precisely how many individuals are enjoying Apex Legends concurrently. However, there are some things which can be an excellent indicator of Apex’s reputation.
At the time of launch, Apex recorded a really wholesome 2 million concurrent gamers only a week after launch. By comparability, present battle royale king Fortnite took sixteen weeks to achieve such a milestone.
However, it seems like Apex Legends could have peaked early whereas Fortnite grew progressively earlier than skyrocketing after which exhibiting regular numbers. The slowing down of complete gamers factors to that, however so too does the sport’s flagging viewership on Twitch.
As you’ll be able to see, Apex Legends positively flew to the highest of the Twitch charts earlier than sliding down virtually as rapidly because it arrived. This aligns with the sport’s sluggish development following a sensational interval of development. Twitch numbers aren’t the very best indicators of a sport’s reputation, however they do supply an perception right into a sport’s standing within the gaming sphere.
The quantity of individuals enjoying Apex Legends dwindling at the moment is additional evidenced by the sport’s sudden downturn in income. Just two weeks after launch, income was down by 74% with stagnant content material and underwhelming cosmetics seemingly enjoying an element.
End of 2019 figures confirmed that Apex appeared to be shedding much more cash; try the under for the best grossing video games of September 2019.
As you’ll be able to see, Apex was nowhere to be seen within the prime ten, although this was simply earlier than the discharge of the resurgent Season 3 on October 1st. It’s additionally value repeating simply how large a debut the sport had — few may hope to maintain such wild buzz.
However, in October 2019, which noticed the discharge of the extensively appreciated Season 3 and a model new map, Apex Legends had its most profitable month since launch, amassing a whopping $45 million in income, which was triple what it had achieved in September.
While Season 4 noticed it enter the highest ten video games on Twitch once more by way of its streamer partnerships, there’s been little information since Revenant was added to the sport, nor any figures that replicate what sort of affect the launch of Call of Duty: Warzone has had on participant numbers, one other free-to-play battle royale that had an identical upwards swing in gamers shortly after launch.
Warzone really had double the quantity of gamers Apex did on its launch day, although their trajectories are actually kind of the identical.
We did, nevertheless, get a bit extra perception for January 2020 into how many individuals are presently enjoying Apex Legends. The Grand Soiree occasion noticed a 12% enhance (MoM) to the quantity of individuals enjoying the sport, although income did take an total hit in comparison with December. That mentioned, it’s to be anticipated when children are house from college at Christmas.
It appears that each time Apex Legends has an LTM, new season or new occasion that its participant numbers start to soar, which is just about the case for each multiplayer sport on the market.
This was evidenced by the launch of Season 5, Fortune’s Favour, which was the most profitable season launch within the sport’s historical past, although EA didn’t share particular info. While this doesn’t essentially imply it was the hottest interval in Apex historical past because the pre-season earlier than Season 1 is just not included, it goes to indicate that many individuals nonetheless play Apex Legends and like it.
The greatest proof of Apex’s reputation is now really accessible for all to see due to EA seeing the sunshine and making the sport additionally accessible on Steam for PC gamers. Nobody actually likes Origin, so it shouldn’t be a shock to see Apex Legends cracking the highest ten on Steam by way of energetic gamers.
Apex Legends has been in Steam’s prime 10 fairly persistently since its launch alongside Season 7 on November fifth, 2020 and hasn’t actually proven a noticeable decline in any respect. In truth, it’s confirmed extra standard on Steam than video games like Destiny 2 and ARK, that are two lengthy standing favourites on the platform. At this time of writing, it’s extra standard than virtually each sport on Steam, barely bouncing exterior of the highest 5 hottest video games on Steam at any time.
In April 2021, many months after its launch on Steam, Apex peaked at 228,439 simultaneous gamers throughout Season 8, which is a large quantity and the largest the sport’s ever reached on the platform. Combine that with the numerous folks nonetheless enjoying on consoles (and perhaps even again on Origin) and you’ve got a highly regarded sport that’s as removed from being a lifeless sport as a sport will be.
The Future of Apex Legends
While Apex Legends won’t be fairly on the heights it as soon as was (at the least by way of grabbing headlines), there’s no denying that it’s nonetheless probably the most standard shooters available on the market, much more so since its vastly profitable Steam launch. Each new replace brings a bunch of latest gamers into the sport, and in addition entices new gamers again.
Apex Legends has a reasonably vibrant future forward, particularly because it’s but to crack the cell market. EA and Respawn have plans to launch the sport for cell units, which can deliver a whole lot of new blood to the sport. If it may additionally crack the Chinese cell market, the place PUBG reigns supreme and props up the license as a complete, Apex can be hovering. It additionally launched throughout March 2021 for Switch, which can solely enhance its figures much more, even when it’s simply the worst approach to play the sport/
It’s additionally value making an allowance for that they’ve plans to deliver Apex Legends to the subsequent technology of consoles, in addition to being backwards suitable on each. Though the set up base on the brand new programs can be comparatively low to start with, having Apex on these platforms will go an extended approach to guaranteeing it lasts the space.
While many level to the emergence of Warzone (and mainly each different BR) as unhealthy news for Apex, it’s value remembering that Warzone and Apex are two utterly totally different experiences. Warzone is extra of a straight shooter, whereas Apex has dashings of a hero shooter that assist it stand out.
Respawn has additionally opened up a brand new studio solely devoted to Apex Legends, that means that they’re all in on retaining the sport up to date and, maybe most significantly of all, standard for seasons and presumably years to return.
Before all that, although, the very first thing EA ought to do is attempt to type cross-saves for the sport so that folks throughout totally different platforms can carry over development. There’s additionally the truth that hackers are operating rampant presently of writing, which is unfortunately simply a part of the deal when your sport will get this large. Hopefully, with the correct anti-cheat and harsher punishments for many who do cheat, Apex’s safety issues gained’t damage its reputation an excessive amount of.
Apex Legends is free to play on PC, PlayStation 4, Switch, and Xbox One.
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