Respawn and EA Working Closely to Build Apex Legends Mobile Esports

Apex Legends has seen steady growth since it was first released. The game's esports streaming numbers have taken off recently, and in a recent interview with The Esports Observer, EA SVP Todd Sitrin confirmed that EA and Respawn are working "very closely together" to make Apex Legends Mobile a household competitive game with the capability to grow into its own esports scene.

Sitrin told The Esports Observer that EA is confident in Apex Legends esports ecosystem, despite the COVID-19 pandemic striking just after an esports program was initiated for the game. Sitrin also said that the company "is a big believer in mobile esports" and specifically mentioned Apex Legends Mobile and Fifa Mobile as two major forthcoming mobile esports opportunities.

It is important to recognize the different roles that EA and Respawn have in this project to foster an esports scene in Apex Legends Mobile. Respawn, the developer of the game, handles supervision of gameplay mechanics and the game design of Apex Legends, while EA brings their global influence and business strategies to the table. Respawn and EA don't operate completely independently of one another, but generally, collaboration like this signals the level of importance EA is placing on the Apex Legends brand.

The confidence EA has in Apex Legends Mobile is founded on the game's steady growth over the last two years. The game hit a milestone of 100 million players during April 2021, and the esports scene keeps growing as well, with a new $1 million prize pool announced last month for the Global Championships. The addition of the new Arenas game mode boosted the game's popularity recently, and it has been a regular amongst the most-viewed games on Twitch since it released.

According to Sitrin, EA is particularly interested in expanding its games into Asian markets, where mobile gaming is seeing a sharp increase in popularity. Beta tests for Apex Legends Mobile are taking place in India and the Philippines, and Fifa Mobile is already a huge hit across the continent.

The forthcoming Apex Legends mobile port is the latest in a trend of popular Battle Royales that have been ported to mobile devices. Fortnite and Player Unknown's Battlegrounds are two other games that saw success in their mobile ports, although Fortnite has since been removed from the iOS App Store due to a lawsuit between Epic Games and Apple. Some monetization aspects of Apex Legends Mobile, particularly on iOS devices, will likely be officially announced after the Epic Games and Apple trial concludes, though.

It seems like every battle royale wants to run on mobile these days. Fortnite has been on mobile for a really long time, as has PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. The battle royale genre's fast-paced gameplay lends itself well to on-the-go gaming, so in the way, it's not too surprising that everyone wants to try to get to mobile. The natural progression, then, is that Apex Legends wants to join its competitors on mobile. If they can find fans eager to play on their phones, then it's only logical that Apex Legends can do the same. Respawn Entertainment's battle royale is going stronger than ever, still adding new events and characters that slowly expand the game.