Apex Legends Has Plans To "Expand Beyond Battle Royale," Will Reveal Next Legend In Two Weeks

Apex Legends Game Director Chad Grenier was a guest on EA's "The Future of FPS" group interview yesterday, where he was joined by the founder of Respawn Entertainment, Vince Zampella, to talk about ... well, the future of Apex Legends -- and a little bit about its past.

Zampella quickly answered that it was "the team" that made Apex a success, and Grenier chimed in to say that the secret of that success was "finding nuggets of gold within the team members." There was an intentional focus on "slower paced, more predictable combat," and so things like wall-riding and jetpacks were nixed from development early on. For a team used to two-year development cycles for new games, Respawn had to completely change its mindset when working on a live game that needed updates every few months. Grenier said that it takes "a year and a half or so" to add a new character or map to the game, with "only" six months needed for a map update.

Looking ahead, Zampella said that "the universe is something that we're building on and have big plans for in the future," which is why Respawn brought on a community member who had been tracking all the lore, as well as selecting artists from the community to help promote the game via static art and also a promotional video for Pathfinder.

Grenier also said that the team is looking to "expand beyond battle royale," as was evident with the Arenas mode introduced in the last season, Season 9. Season 10 will add ranked Arenas, and more about the season will be revealed at the EA Play Live on July 22, including information about the game's next legend. Fans will certainly be looking forward that info drop.