Unearthing original Kings Canyon for Launch Royale “like an archeological dig”.
“We’ve changed the game a lot since launch,” design director Evan Nikolich told me.
It came around ‘what would it feel like if we went back?
What’s the difference between the game we play today and the new game?"
“We went back, with everything we could pull and dust off from that time.”
“It took time,” Button said.
Do we even have these things left over?
It was kind of like an archeological dig in certain ways."
Lessons learned from this can be seen reflected in later maps, such as World’s Edge and Olympus.
As a regular Apex player, its five years and 23 seasons have flown by.
“The big one is that you’ve got to listen to the players,” Nikolich continued.
So, we keep working on it."
We’re right on the forefront of ‘what does it mean to be a ranked competitive game?’.
“Nothing is sacred, challenge the status quo.
What worked five years ago might not be working now.
It’s always looking internally at what we’ve done and always trying to push to greater heights.
Sometimes that means making incredible risky changes and seeing how the player base likes or dislikes it.
Then responding to the feedback they’re giving us.”
Season 23 introduced the second rework of a Legend, with big changes to Lifeline.
Still, with such a large character roster, it takes longer to develop a unique take.
Where would the Legends be without their weapons in the Apex arena?
That’s not to say that further changes aren’t possible, however.
