KEY POINTS

  • EA is planning to soft-launch "Apex Legends" for mobile by the end of 2020 
  • The news was tackled by EA CEO Andrew Wilson during a Fireside Chat Monday
  • "Apex Legends" for Mobile will spring EA to contention with "Fortnite," "PUBG" and "Call of Duty: Mobile"

Video game publishers and developers are slowly embracing that the future of mobile gaming is bright. The rise of Multiplayer online battle arena games like “Mobile Legends: Bang Bang” and “Arena of Valor” have paved the way for new entrants like Riot Games to introduce “League of Legends: Wild Rift” to a new spectrum of players.

Word has it that EA is planning to dip their toes on the mobile gaming hemisphere by introducing their acclaimed battle-royale game, “Apex Legends” to mobile esports players. In an interview with Andrew Wilson through @ApexLatest on Twitter, EA's head honcho explained during a Fireside Chat Monday (June 22) that they are mulling on an “Apex Legends” soft launch by the end of 2020.

“You've heard me talk about six or seven games in various stages of incubation or production or in finaling phase. We feel very good about our mobile business,” Wilson added.

Apex Legends
Apex Legends recently introduced update 1.2 which makes quite a few changes to the game. One of the more controversial changes is the removal of the bunny-hop heal, a technique used by many players. sercan çetin / Flickr

While a soft launch would mean a stepping stone and a training ground for EA to further enhance and “fine-tune” “Apex Legends” for mobile, they are also eyeing for a “global release” for the first quarter of 2021.

If all goes well, EA is well on its way to lock horns with other console-based battle-royale games such as “PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds,” or PUBG, “Fortnite” and “Call of Duty: Mobile” to name a few. Its soft launch, which will most likely be a Beta, will be the game's third version this year alongside Nintendo Switch and Steam.

The recent news of an “Apex Legends” for mobile followed CFO and COO Blake Jorgensen's statement back in January when he said that EA has teamed up with a partner to “prep the game for a worldwide mobile release.”

“That partner is also helping us develop a mobile Apex for the globe. And – well, more to come on that in terms of timing, but that's also a big upside for us. We have not built a lot into our forecast for next year on that, because the timing is always uncertain. But we do believe that there's a lot of opportunity there,” he said.

EA also worked with Tencent previously and came up with “FIFA Online” and the “Need for Speed” franchise. Tencent on the other hand had a history with Activision, the name behind the mobile version of “Call of Duty” and three “PUBG” games.

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