MeinMMO spoke to the bosses of Apex Legends about the big changes in Season 16. We talked about the development of the hero shooter so far and what the developers are aiming for in the future of the shooter.
On February 14th, 2023, Apex Legends will start the new Season 16 “Festival”, which is entirely dedicated to the 4th anniversary of the hero shooter and will bring major innovations to the game for the players. Below:
MeinMMO spoke to two of the shooter’s bosses and asked about the background to current developments and the future of Apex Legends. The interviewees were:
Apex Legends is having a big birthday party
MeinMMO: Apex Legends is celebrating its fourth birthday and has changed a lot over the years. What milestones that the game has achieved over time are you most proud of?
Steven Ferreira: I think what I’m most proud of is that the game is still as exciting and successful as it is today. It’s not easy making a game that big and that has so many players playing every day and still being as committed and passionate as they are. And I think that’s because of several aspects.
First, we have not been afraid to try new things. As you said, the game has changed a lot over the years, so we’ve experimented a lot over the past four years.
And that’s really the core of our game development: we have an idea. let’s try it We don’t have a beta environment, we don’t have many opportunities to specifically test a feature before it goes live. We’re building something and thinking about how that will affect the live game. And we test it in the live game and learn from it.
It’s been a process of learning, experimenting, learning more, and also being true to what Apex is and not trying to make a game that pleases everyone. I think that’s what I’m most proud of. Today’s status is quite a big achievement of which I’m very proud.
MyMMO: […] Can you give a few examples of how exactly Apex Legends as a game and as a community has changed over the years?
Steven Ferreira: This season is a great example of one of the big changes we’ve made in the past, but only amplified. Because in the last 4 years the game has gotten bigger, we’ve put more and more content into the game, more legends, more weapons, more maps, more modes.
And as we just talked about, this means that it has become increasingly difficult for players to get into Apex. Simply because there is so much to do. You go into the game and there are 23 legends to learn and there are all these maps and all these different modes. Where to start?
Now when you look back at this content and wonder how we can continue to push and evolve Apex and how can we push the boundaries for the competitive players within Apex that have been around for four years.
This is what you see with the changes to our class system. That’s what you see in the fact that we’ve reworked so many Legends and tweaked the way you play them to fit the new class system.
But we also look at our onboarding experience. And how we’re getting players to step into the game and feel like they’re going down the same path that players did four years ago. This season encapsulates very, very well the aspects I talked about.
Here’s the Revelry gameplay trailer with a preview of the upcoming content:
Apex Legends: Revelry Gameplay Trailer
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Why not only newcomers benefit from the changes
MeinMMO: Yes, I think so too, especially when it comes to the new players. But do you also think that the old players will also benefit from the new changes?
Evan Nicolich: When I got into the franchise over a year ago and I spoke to the team, it was a big deal: we’re making all this content, new legends, new maps, new, new, new. But we learned so much from the existing legends and the existing content.
Why can’t we develop them further? Actually we should. We should really be taking a break from new Legends and focusing on Legendary evolution, including evolving our onboarding, evolving our firing range, evolving some of our progression systems.
So that’s what we’ve really focused on: we’ve learned a lot from our players over the years, we’ve learned a lot about how they play, so now we’re trying to build in dynamics that add more new things, add more variety. The big thing is, we want troop composition to really matter in the higher tiers.
At the lower level you should get good at moving and shooting. At the higher level you really have to think about it: do I have a recon, do I have a controller, do I have a skirmer, what’s a good composition?
So we’re really trying to add more variety and strategy for the returning player and break out of the routine.
MeinMMO: And if you compare Apex Legends with other shooters or the shooter genre in 2023 in total compares How would you say Apex Legends fits in there, how would you describe it? What is the identity of the game?
Evan Nicolich: Apex Legends aspires to be a high-skill competitive shooter. So when I say high skill it means we have a great combination of focus on movement, mobility but also on the core of gunplay where you can aim, shoot and track.
We focus on creating systems that add a lot of depth and inspire a desire to learn to get good and get good with others too to build really good strong team play.
So we’re trying to create an ongoing hobby that you play like other games like Counter-Strike or Legue of Legends or even like a sport like soccer or basketball because it’s fun. Because as a hobby you want to share it with friends and maybe also with your children.
In contrast, I’d say Fortnite is evolving more towards a metaverse, towards a party that seems more inclusive as a place to hang out and not as focused on competition and esports focused, which we’re creating here with Apex.
That should be Apex Legends in 20 years
MeinMMO: What are your hopes for the future of Apex Legends and its community? Do you have something you are working on that you can give us a little hint. Or do you have something you personally wish for the game?
Evan Nicolich: We want to continue to develop the game as a sport. Like I said, a never-ending hobby.
And that’s how it comes to what I call tending the garden: we take our existing game, make sure it’s healthy, add new plants, pull weeds, prune the trees and want to be something to hold on to passed on to children and friends.
I look forward to the years to come as Apex continues to exist. We’ve been around for four years now. So there’s probably the kids that in college said, “I want to make games,” while playing Apex for four years and then graduating and then joining our team.
We actually have a few. We have an intern starting in a few months who has played a lot of Apex. And it’s like an injection of new blood, but from a perspective of, “I really see this game as a hobby and not as where we’re from, where we just started from scratch.” We’re growing as a community, but also as developers as our team changes over time.
Steven Ferreira: I agree 100 percent with what Evan just said and I think I’ll add that we’ve created an amazing universe where we’re telling really great stories and giving players the opportunity to experience very immersive fantasies, that I’m really enjoying today.
In the future, 20 years from now, I want us to be like Marvel. I want people to think of our legends the way they think of their favorite superheroes in the Marvel Universe and how they can change and evolve over time, but the core that makes that people feel that arrives, the authenticity, the upbeat message, the core of what Apex is as an experience. Hopefully that will resonate with people for years to come, with the next generation of gamers.
We would like to thank Steven Ferreira and Evan Nikolich for the interview and wish them continued success in the development of Apex Legends.
MeinMMO also spoke to the development team for the last season, when Apex Legends brought the new legend Catalyst into play: Apex Legends: We spoke to the developers about Catalyst and its abilities – why it is even stronger than you thought