Apex Legends decline spooks investors

From VG247: "Apex Legends has been bleeding viewers on Twitch, and loosing the mind share of players after just a couple of weeks following its release.

Despite peaking at 40 million hours watched on Twitch in February – an-all time high for any game, Apex Legends has already dropped to 10 million per week."

[BadElf]

Really is a shame....I thought this was going to be beautifully updated post launch. Sad.

[UltraNova]

I have a feeling Respawn has stretched themselves thin between updating/supporting Apex and developing the new Star wars game. They were just not prepared for such a huge workload.

If that's the case I sure they are scrambling to get new blood in, but will they do it before its too late for Apex? That's the question.

[DaDrunkenJester]

If that's the case I really hope they don't half ass Jedi Fallen Order. I really want a good Star Wars game haha

[WombBat]

I told you all that Apex Legends was not a Fortnite killer. If you look at the two games from a design point-of-view, Fortnite has a LOT more depth. The ability to build adds defense to a genre that lacked creative ways of implementing defense. Building adds another dimension of creativity to shooter. I can understand why some don't like it, but when it comes to longevity of a game, we need creativity and depth. The Apex Legends formula is just Overwatch + PUBG + Titanfall without really adding anything new, and certainly not something as impactful as building.

Fortnite could take out the Battle Royale mode and swap it for a Slayer/Deathmatch and it would still do really well, in my opinion, although it would also need ranking system like Halo 3's.

[KillBill]

@WomBat - I think you are missing the the real reason of Fortnite's success and longevity. The building for sure is a difference identifier between Fortnite and other games but that is far from the reason for its success. The reason for the longevity of Fortnite is the simple fact of it always evolving. Giving us the same single map but changing up the map each season to make its evolution a key component in why people return season after season. Giving us the familiarity of the map with the draw of wanting to see how it changes as the seasons play out.

[UltraNova]

Killbill,

Although Fortnite's constant updating is crucial to its sustained success, I believe its more than that. I believe, that Fortnite has obtained that legendary "Mincraft" notoriety amongst teenagers, where everyone has to be playing it to be cool and accepted. This is why its so massively popular today.

[WombBat]

@KillBill

You know what you are right. That is a part of why it was successful because the game has changed dramatically from the base Fortnite. But I still think that the building was the main reason why people stayed. But I don't even want to discredit the weapon balance and gunplay in Fortnite. And for the guy saying that its about what's cool, I am not so sure about that because we have seen paid advertisers and streamers taken control of the zeitgeist but people still go back to Fortnite for a reason.

[Alek83]

Exactly. If they just keep adding content, people wouldn't be leaving in droves. I thought this would finally break my unhealthy Fortnite habit, but I was bored after just a month. Fun month though.

It also got me into checking out Titanfall 2, and I am actually playing that now as well. What a great game, too bad I missed it when it launched.

[franwex]

What made you skipped it during launch? I’m curious as to why so many people skipped it.

[Alek83]

@franwex

It released at a really bad time. Gears of War 4, Mafia 3, and Battlefield 1.

I mean heck, I still play BF1 from time to time.

[MetroidFREAK21]

I'm so glad I don't play games based on Twitch but instead of what I enjoy playing. All games decline overtime. While this decline is faster than I expected, it's because season 1 didn't really add much. The battlepass was admittedly very weak, no new weapons except for the Havoc, only 1 legend, no ranked or competitive (for those who care) so it's obvious why the game is losing steam. I personally still really enjoy it and as long as I can get into games, that's all I really want. Hope they add new content fast to keep people interested

[Rude-ro]

😂 too funny.
Twitch’s biggest streamers are used commercially, then articles are made per whatever use a company had for them.
Apex launched with sponsored streams. Thus inflating viewerships.
Trend dies down, then it is doom and gloom.
Microsoft did a sponsored stream with sea of thieves, then it was “sea of thieves is back!”.. a week later number plummet.

Here is what you take away from twitch.. they are shills.
Also, with twitch changing to add or sub approach.. a lot of people are just choosing to stop watching in general.

[Servbot41]

Yup this game reeked of paid sponsorship streams. You don't announce your game one day before it comes out to absolutely zero fanfare and have all the big names start streaming you at the same time. It's been fishy since day one and apparently people were oblivious to it. Not saying the game is or isn't good but come on guys.

[Gardenia]

They can pay millions for sponsored streams, but if a game is bad and/or boring then gamers simply stop playing it

[Rude-ro]

That has nothing to do with the point.
They are not talking active player numbers.. they using twitch viewership numbers. Completely different.

[Emme]

After some time, watching oyher people pkay isnt just very interesting.

[FunAndGun]

I honestly have never unders

[chazjamie]

https://www.reddit.com/r/ih...

[xVOLTx]

Crap game from a crap company.

[agent13]

a crap publisher but from a great studio respawn did good with titanfall and their star wars game seems promising

[frostypants]

Best BR game by far from a great company, just a crap publisher.

[bluefox755]

Yeah, I don't understand why people are treating this like it's "different", it's just more BR trash. This was bound to happen.

[Kabaneri]

3rd party AAA industry is collapsing.

[annoyedgamer]

one can only hope...

[DVAcme]

It's almost like battle royale games are a fad and it's not a wise decision to base long-term business strategy on them!

[rainslacker]

It's not a fad. And it's not a wise decision to base any long term business strategy solely on one game, or one business paradigm. I don't like these kinds of games, but people may as well get used to the genre. If we're lucky, it'll just become a better game mode.

I think instead of people hating on the genre, they should hate on the way in which they're released. A single game mode pushed out as a full game, where in the past, this would just be a mode of a bigger game with multiple modes. It'd probably be less appealing if they were full priced games, and I doubt PUBG could release as a paid game after the F2P games are showing the ability to make much more money.

[The7Reaper]

Because the game is just dull. The only pieces of meaningful content was a crappy gun and a crack head with a trampoline.

[PhoenixUp]

Investors are a fickle bunch

No game stays on top forever

[Muigi]

Cmon end of the day its another reason not to trust EA.

[Enigma_2099]

Well, SOMEONE has to work on Jedi Outcast...

[Jon_Targaryen]

Awesome game, but after a week it felt like I saw enough to knoe its gonna gey stale fast for experts.

[esmittystud101]

The age of gaming when watching someone else play a video game is more important than playing it themselves........

[-Foxtrot]

So EA paid Ninja to play Apex Legends for 1 million and it's dying

Yet they'll just close studios left right and centre

[coolbeans]

I mean...that's not really a bad investment deal on its face. Having a--relatively--low-key marketing push for a f2p Battle Royale game has the potential to really take off in today's market. Compare that with studios (Visceral & others) where you're probably talking millions just for health insurance, benefits, power, etc.

I'm not saying it's right in an ethical sense, but your comment seems to be disputing the supposed financial inconsistency/stupidity of EA. In this specific context? That's not really the case.

[TheColbertinator]

On to the next trend

[agent13]

personally, I didn't really enjoy this game it gets repetitive and boring too fast titanfall 2 was a much better game by respawn. while much much better, tolerable and playble than fortnite, apex legends isn't a good enough fps game. I think adding more game modes other than battle royal can revive and keep this game alive, modes like team death match, conquest,... etc would be a great addition.

[YourSixStudios_YT]

I think it's important to remember that twitch viewership doesn't really represent the amount of people playing a game. Especially when larger streamers are getting sponsorships to play games. Apex Legends still has a lot of life left in it. Once more updates come out.... like SOLOS, maybe even duos... map changes, more people will come back.

[Lionsguard]

All of these battle royale games are just flavor of the week material.

[Kyizen]

People wants cosmetics while they are balacing gameplay and guns. Yes the BP cosmetics were weak but the game is solid. Twitch is in decline cause no rank mode, and top streamers are finding alot of cheaters and lag in some games.

[Dizzy11523]

It's all good. It's still better than Fortnite. Unless you like building and dancing and playing dress up.

[Artemidorus]

Let's be honest this game became boring quickly and they haven't provided enough updates to keep it fresh.

[DafunkyRebel]

Get woke go broke

[conanlifts]

It needs regular updates and some map changes. In addition some of the community you team up with are toxic and abusive, yet they have no report feature for any abuse.

[jeki]

A post in the comment section of the article reminded me of headlines like these:

Fortnite is Dead
Apex is the New King

The only reason Apex appeared to be doing so well is because people were paid to promote it. Ninja got a million dollars to play it on Twitch, YoutTubers were paid to make videos, bloggers were paid. Why don't journalists talk about that? Because they were paid too.

[metalgod88]

There was no way they could keep that daily player count. It's still a popular game, but the casual players are being pushed out, as they aren't good enough to compete with better players. The battle pass was kind of a missed opportunity, and the in game currency is really only useful to unlock characters, which there are only 3 to unlock.

There are some ways they could change things up though. Maybe add like a "midnight bowling" effect to the game where its nighttime with neon lights. Maybe add a new map entirely. Add a squad based practice mode. Maybe add legit competitive mode. That would alleviate the rookies getting pummeled by the pros every match. There's so many things they could do to pull people back in... But it will never reach that peak daily player count again.

[Shadonic]

Why everyone comparing game population and what not like they looking at states for players on draft picks or something ? OF course its going to dwindle lower especially with the Avengers marketing hitting fortnite right now.

[fonduktoe]

Respawn really dropped the ball on this one.

[XxINFERNUSxX]

To bad this game can't switch places with Overwatch. Overwatch should just decline and die, that game has become an unbalanced shit storm that Blizzard does not fix.

[tochi]

The start of the game was a huge marketing stunt. Obviously, it could continue just as long as EA's PR money lasts.
Why are people even surprised about the sharp decline of number?

What has remained is really important number to EA. They are real fans.
EA's biggest problem is that they often call them "disappointing number" and "below expectation", then do not invest on expansion of the real fans base. Apex Legends is no exception.

[CJLogix]

Just waiting on respawn to cancel to the star wars game and put their full force towards apex. Can totally see EA force them to do that.

[demonicale]

It's not just Apex, all these battle royale games are good for a few weeks and then I move onto something else. Can't play the same thing forever.

[SirBillyBones]

They were doomed from the start. Launching with an appalling netcode and little to no anti cheat was absurd and unforgivable. Couple that with the artificially generated hype (via paying off Twitch streamers and YouTubers) and no meaningful road map, meant there was only one direction for the game to go.

It's been out for a while now and there are still infuriating bugs and issues that haven't been addressed. Things like the audio issues, very poor hit detection, hitbox problems etc that very quickly turn matches into a frustrating and rage inducing experience.

Hell, they even did a terrible job with the microtransactions, the one thing a free to play game should nail. Then followed that up with a pathetic season pass.

I've said this many times, the game will continue to decline unless it gets a major investment, which I can't see happening at this point.

[W4rfight3r]

Yea whatever. I'm still going to PLAY Apex. Idc. I hate having to update a single game every single week, emptying my internet.

[meep316]

Why is twitch viewership so important?

[LuzCB1987]

Game is actually very good but since it is so fast paced and viewed too much, I have already seen what I could possibly see. I think they should introduce new modes like single player. Not being able to find some good teammates can be frustrating.

[Snakeeater25]

Thé game never had duo or quatuor mode thats all its done

[eddvdm]

Not my cup of tea, but Respawn always makes its best and it is shown.

About updates, I believe they'll come - but it's though to compete against worst-ethics Epic Games. If you don't know what I'm talking about:

Epic Games EXPOSED By Polygon Over Fortnite
https://www.youtube.com/wat...