Apex Legends Crosses the Mark of 70 Million Players Globally, Takes Centre Stage in EA’s Plans

EA has announced its quarterly earnings report for second quarter of the fiscal year 2020, and if there is one game that stood out, it was Apex Legends. The free-to-play battle royale game, which was released in February this year, has already amassed a player base of 70 million worldwide. Thanks to the success of Apex Legends, EA is positioning it as one of the key growth drivers for the fiscal year 2021, and will back it actively as the game comes to mobile devices and other platforms as well. In its latest earnings report, EA also shared details of a few upcoming projects.

In the report, EA's COO and CFO, Blake Jorgensen mentioned that Apex Legends is a major long-term franchise for the studio, and that they have significantly expanded the team working behind the curtains to create more content and experiences that will be rolled out soon via new seasons. Apex Legends has indeed blossomed into a marquee franchise that currently has a global player base of over 70 million. But the signs of it being a major hit could be seen from the beginning, as it crossed the mark of 25 million players in just a week following its release.

EA has already confirmed that Apex Legends will come to the mobile platform, and in its latest financial report, the studio made it clear that they see Apex Legend's arrival on mobile devices as a major growth opportunity, both in terms of player count and revenue. The studio also mentioned that it is investing in Apex Legends as its target IP for fiscal 2021, and believes that it will yield positive results driven by the addition of new content and expanded reach.

Another area where EA reaped benefits in the latest fiscal quarter were live services that set a new Q2 record and brought in $493 million (roughly Rs. 3,498 crores) in net bookings, primarily led by titles like Apex Legends, Ultimate Team in Madden, FIFA and NHL, The Sims 4, and FIFA Online. Talking about future plans, the EA executive revealed that a new Battlefield title will arrive in fiscal 2022, Medal of Honor VR will come out in fiscal 2021, alongside remastered versions of a few classic titles.