If you’re at all involved in the gaming community, you’ve probably heard of the game Apex Legends. Apex Legends is a free-to-play FPS (first-person shooter) published by EA on February 4, 2019, with the mobile version hitting the digital shelves on May 17, 2022.
This game has captured the attention of many in the FPS community. It has become wildly popular recently, along with similar games like Fortnite.
But suppose you’re new to the gaming and eSports world. In that case, you might be wondering what Apex Legends is, the history behind its development, and how the game operates on a professional level.
If so, you’ve come to the right spot. We’ll discuss how Apex Legends works, how it was made, and all the details on today’s eSports scene.
The development of Apex Legends began with a Titanfall game mode known simply as “Survival.” According to Chad Grenier, the game director for what would eventually become Apex Legends, pilots and Titans would duke out battle-royale style for a race to the top.
By early 2017, the first 50-player game mode was successfully tested, and the team began working on a map for King’s Canyon. At this point, the Titan element of King’s Canyon had been removed to balance the pacing of the gameplay.
In addition, the name changed again from Survival to Apex Predators. At this point, the beta-testing was well under way, and the team would often play without headsets or player names so they could test the in-game communication system. Finally, they scrapped all other projects and began working on what would eventually become Apex Legends.
Chad Grenier said, “Of course, thinking you have a great game on your hands doesn’t mean the world will love what you’ve created, [so we] were all very anxious to see how our game did at launch. Knowing that many of our fans would be expecting another traditional Titanfall game, we opted to go with a secret launch so players could immediately play the game when they first heard about it. We knew players would love the game if they could just play it.”
Before Respawn released the game, they notified several top streamers about it. Grenier also notes that “two hours turned into eight … they couldn’t put it down.” But how does this game work? What drew so many people to enjoy its fun style and unique mechanics?
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How Apex Legends Works
Apex Legends is a first-person shooter game with a Battle Royale gameplay style. In this game, the player picks a character with two to three pre-set abilities (known as a Legend) and competes with other characters to be the last “squad” standing.
Players earn experience points based on battle performance, which they can redeem for Apex Packs. Apex Packs contain cosmetics, which can also be purchased with real money, through seasonal Battle Passes, or as a prize for limited-time events.
Unlike most first-person shooters, Apex Legends supports voice and text communication in-game. This makes it much easier for team members to talk to one another and strategize the best solution to victory, according to the Apex Legends Wiki.
Battle Royale matches contain 60 players who can choose where they want to dive down to the map out of a flying airship. From there, players can forage for weapons, loot, and other materials and try to take out other squads to achieve victory.
The last squad standing, of course, is the winner of the match. The game is divided into rounds characterized by gradually shrinking the playable area until the unplayable zone encompasses the entire map. “Care Packages” are also dropped to provide players extra loot.
Apex Pro League: The ALGS Championship
Have you ever wondered what goes into setting up an Apex Legends competitive league and how the eSport is operated?
Here are a few details about how Apex Legends works as a competitive eSport. The eSport is the ALGS or the Apex Legends Global Series. The inaugural season was announced in 2019 and culminated in 2020 and 2021.
The peak of the series is the Apex Legends Global Series Championship, which follows two “splits,” similar to quarterfinals and semifinals in the Olympics.
According to the Esports Archive, the 2020 season saw a prize pool of $2.58 million, with $1 million coming from EA and the rest pooled from sales of limited-edition in-game cosmetics. This prize doubled in 2021 to $5 million according to Dean Takahashi at Venture.
The eSports competition for the ALGS has three phases: Split One, Split Two, and the Championship. Each stage contains a “season” and playoffs, according to Cale Michael with Dot Esports.
Finally, the 2022 Apex Legends Global Series had a prize of $2 million and organized the first live audience viewing. The Split One phase had 300,000 views, surpassing even the inaugural championships. It also broke viewer records for all of EA’s titles, per Esports Insider’s data.
If you want to join the eSports scene and support your favorite team, there are many ways to do so.
The gameplay takes place on YouTube, Twitch, and Stream, so if you use any of those platforms, it should be easy to find your team and root for them in the comments and live chat. If you could book a flight to Sweden, you could also have seen the 2022 playoffs.
Now that the ALGS is doing live viewing, there’s no doubt that it will be easy to get your foot in the door and see your favorite teams compete. As the eSports scene grows and Apex Legends becomes known for its competitive gameplay style, this vast annual season will capture the attention of many.
If you would like to enter the competitive Apex Legends scene, the season rules are available here. All you have to do is create a Battlefly account, link it to your EA data, and join or create a team to join the ALGS. That’s it!
Conclusion
Apex Legends is a unique first-person shooter game with a fun Battle Royale style, fascinating development history, and a thriving eSports scene.
We hope you’ve enjoyed learning about this information and how Apex Legends has transformed the gaming and eSports world. If you have any other tips about the game, the eSports scene, or more insight into its development, please share them in the comments below, and keep being a legend!
