Respawn Killed An Apex Legends Character Before He Was In The Game To Foil Dataminers

Did you catch the introduction of Apex Legends' newest character, James "The Forge" McCormick back in January? If you didn't, don't be alarmed -- he wasn't around for very long. Forge was introduced in a video clip, seen below, and then killed off before getting into the game by a character who actually made it into the game, Revenant.

That left some people scratching their heads as to just what the plan was with Forge, and yesterday Respawn Entertainment spilled the beans the way Revenant spilled Forge's blood. Speaking to Dot Esports, Design Director Jason McCord said that Forge's untimely demise was an effort to strike back at dataminers who he knew would sift through the game's files to find out about Forge before his official reveal.

"We actually purposefully leaked fake concept art and details of Forge's kit in patches, so there would be a bread crumb trail by the time we announced him. It's pretty insane, really. I can't think of any other game that has gone through such hijinks."

Neither can we. And lest you think that this is just a ruse to build up more hype for Forge's eventual addition to the game, McCord puts those thoughts to rest by saying, "Forge is super dead." I dunno, can't he, like ... respawn?

Check out the rest of the article to learn more about how Revenant was created, a process that took about a year for the Apex Legends team. And while you're at it, say a prayer or two for Forge.