EA Teases A Bigger, Newer Apex Legends 2.0

Respawn’s battle royale game Apex Legends debuted six years ago this month, and parent company Electronic Arts has now hinted that an “Apex 2.0” could be in the works–but it won’t launch soon.

As part of EA’s latest earnings briefing, CEO Andrew Wilson said Apex Legends’ debut in February 2019 was one of the “great new launches” for any game in the past decade of video games. Since then, it’s reached more than 200 million people. But in recent times, Wilson said the game “has not headed in the direction that we have wanted for some time” in terms of its business performance.

So to turn things around, EA is going to focus on a number of key areas, one of which is a potential bigger “2.0” version of the game. But before that, Wilson said Respawn’s more immediate aim is to support the “tens of millions” of people who play the game every day with quality-of-life updates, better anti-cheat measures, and more content to keep people interested and engaged. Wilson said Respawn has made “some progress” in that area, but “not as much as we would have liked.” Phase two, he said, would be developing a “more meaningful update of Apex as a broad game experience.” Whatever this might be, it probably won’t release until after Battlefield 6 arrives, Wilson said.

For reference, Battlefield 6 is penciled in for EA’s 2026 fiscal year, meaning it will release between April 1, 2025 and March 31, 2026. EA could delay the game, however, if it makes sense to avoid a big game like GTA 6.

And on a longer-term horizon, Wilson said a franchise like Apex doesn’t come along every day, so the company will do what it can to build it out further and help the series reach more people (and bring in more money for EA). “What I think we’ve demonstrated as a company is an ability to build franchises that last 10, 20, 30 years and growing,” he said. “Our expectation is that Apex will be also one of those franchises.”

To that end, Wilson said fans (and investors alike) can likely expect an “even bigger, more meaningful update to that broader experience and Apex 2.0, if you will.” He said the existing version of Apex Legends is “not the final incarnation” of the game, which is a heavy tease for… some kind of broader extension to the series. Whether or not it’s a full-on sequel, however, remains unknown.

“So the team remains incredibly committed. We continue to invest behind the core community who continues to play the numbers in the tens of millions of players,” Wilson said. “We do believe that there should be a more major update that will probably happen after a Battlefield launch just in terms of timing and the team is diligently working through what that would be. And then longer term, our expectation is that we’ll continue to expand what this franchise is and how we support a core community of highly competitive players and new communities that want to come and experience all the greatness that Apex has to offer.”

Back in October 2024, Wilson said Respawn wasn’t actively thinking about an Apex Legends sequel. EA already attempted to expand the Apex Legends series with a mobile game, but the publisher took the game offline.

Next up for Apex Legends is the big Season 24 update that includes a range of significant changes and improvements.