Respawn isn’t planning to ever make an Apex Legends sequel. However, that doesn’t mean that the studio doesn’t have long-term plans for the game. One notable expansion which, according to a representative of the studio, could come at some stage is Apex Legends cross-play and cross-save. Speaking in a recent interview with USGamer, Executive Producer Drew McCoy discussed the possibility of these features coming to the popular battle royale title.
Could Apex Legends Cross-Play Happen at Some Stage?
During the same interview in which McCoy revealed that Respawn had no plans to develop a sequel to Apex Legends, the Executive Producer also spoke about more short-term plans. Apex Legends cross-play falls somewhere in the middle; according to McCoy, it’s something which the studio wants to try. However, it’s also something which would require a lot of effort. As a result, the studio has numerous more pressing things to work on right now.
“We would love to,” said McCoy, asked if Respawn would like to develop Apex Legends cross-play; “it’s a huge amount of work to get it there. We’re a smaller team so we’re always prioritizing features and work. It’s one of those things that I would love to get to but stuff like ranked for season two and more content immediately is where we’re put our focus.”
This assessment of priorities certainly makes sense. After all, Respawn has already said publicly that the studio won’t force their staff to work unreasonable periods of development crunch. This is relevant because it means that the studio can’t necessarily keep pace with their largest competitors. However, these practices have also received widespread condemnation from the gaming community, media, and beyond. Epic Games, the studio behind Fortnite, is just one example of a studio under fire for their working conditions.
Because of this, Respawn simply can’t produce the same amount of content that a game like Fortnite can. As such, at this relatively early stage in the game’s life cycle, it’s important for Respawn to establish a solid base of post-launch content and support before anything else. If they can do so, then they may have the chance to work on cross-play in the future; at some point when the game has a lot more core content.