When battle royale games starting taking off, many thought it would be a trend that died off as quickly. Now, its staying power has been proven time and again, with big names like Fortnite, Apex Legends, and Call of Duty: Warzone leading the established genre. One key part of these games are how constantly they update their formula. For example, Apex Legends was the first BR game to include mechanics to revive allies, and the genre at large adapted.
What's next is anyone's guess, but for Apex Legends, season 9 has been trumped up since season 7. Big things are said to be coming, with some of that being Titanfall-related content as well. While it remains to be seen, the War Games event is an ongoing series of Takeovers which, providing the proper data, could outline where Apex is headed.
Apex Legends' War Games Event
The War Games event is similar to other Takeovers with its special skins, rewards, and more, but it differs from many with its variability and length. One thing to keep in mind is that not only have these proven to increase engagement, but they're fun ways to bring attention to new elements. Evo Shields, now a mainstay in Apex Legends, began as aspects of LTMs. This means War Games could have a similar purpose.
In War games, players get to check out matches with new modifiers. Second Chance, recently replaced with the Armor Regen LTM, gave players a free respawn. Ultra Zones shake up the loot pool, Auto Banners makes reviving allies easier, Killing Time reduces the time in the round whenever a player dies, and the aforementioned Armor Regen provides shield regeneration. All of these options are just that: options. How each impact a game could provide unique information for Respawn and for players.
For example, before the Second Chance LTM was removed, this made battles much more chaotic. Instead of the one or done, 1-2 minute engagements of fighting another team, this became more chaotic as looting was prohibited, players know the other team was respawning, and in turn, players get that one more chance to change a fight. This led to some chaotic brawls where players were in a single area of the map for most of a match, fighting for survival and dominance after revive after revive went off. It was more akin to a standard death match than a battle royale game, but it allowed Apex Legends to really prove the worth of new modes.
Apex Legends Season 9 Teases
With this in mind and depending on what is learned from this LTM and their engagement, Respawn Entertainment could bring more frequent changes to the game. It's doubtful, though, that something like Second Chance will make it ways into standard matches or the Ranked Mode, but more frequent LTMs like this new, new playlists with these mods active, or something like custom matches where these were all configurable options would be a real change to Apex Legends.
It should be noted that, as much as Takeovers prove their worth via engagement, additional play lists did not because they weren't as obvious. However, keeping something like this constant, in some way, may just prove to the next innovation for the BR game. After all, Respawn has said how it is interested in expanding beyond, so content like Apex Legends getting team deathmatches, maybe custom matches, and other types of content could use this information to go further than what many initially expected.
Apex Legends is available now for PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
