Respawn is leaning into the “dead game” chatter around Apex Legends instead of dodging it. In an interview with PCGamesN, design director Evan Nikolich and director of player investment Chris Cleroux said the battle royale has reached its highest player count in 18 months, with Season 28 lifting Steam numbers by 50% and pushing the game to its best peak since August 2024.
That Steam data comes from SteamDB, so it does not include console players. Even so, Nikolich said the studio is happy with the direction and sees the rebound as the product of work that began at the end of 2024.
“If people are saying, ‘dead game’, that means our game is alive,” Nikolich said. “Our game is dead when no one says anything at all.” He added that Respawn has become faster and more responsive internally, and that those changes have started to show up in the live game.
That push is landing alongside Season 29’s new Legend Axle, the first fresh character in more than a year. Nikolich said Respawn still wants to climb back toward the peak of more than 620,000 players it hit in 2023, which he described as the real target rather than the recent bump.
Cleroux also pointed to ranked as the next test. Later in Season 29, solo queue players will be placed into a slightly easier lobby based on skill, a change Respawn will watch closely. He also teased “experiments that are coming up” for ranked matchmaking and said there is “even bigger stuff” he cannot talk about yet.
Apex Legends still has work ahead, but Respawn sounds convinced the comeback is real. Share your thoughts in the comments, and follow us on X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram for more gaming coverage.
Apex Legends
Developed by Respawn Entertainment
Conquer with character in Apex Legends, a free-to-play Hero shooter where legendary characters with powerful abilities team up to battle for fame & fortune on the fringes of the Frontier.
Master an ever-growing roster of diverse Legends, deep tactical squad play and bold new innovations that go beyond the Battle Royale experience—all within a rugged world where anything goes. Welcome to the next evolution of Hero Shooter.
- Genre: Shooter, Tactical
- Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch 2, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
- Modes: Multiplayer, Co-operative, Battle Royale
- Release: 2019-02-04
- Publisher: Electronic Arts
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Age Rating:
PEGI 16 / CERO D / GRAC 19+ / USK 16 / CLASS_IND 14 / ACB MA 15+ / ESRB T
- IGDB Rating: 75.5/100
