EA "Respawns": Company Up 16% as Apex Legends Reverses Entire Loss

[Megalith]

A truck loaded with hookers and blow may be headed to Respawn Entertainment, as the Titanfall dev’s latest effort, Apex Legends, has exceeded the industry’s wildest predictions, gaining an insane 10 million players in 72 hours, besting Fortnite’s record. EA suffered a historical drop after admitting its revenue miss of $1.61 billion earlier this week, but the publisher is back on its feet and trading at over $96 all thanks to Respawn’s Battle Royale title. Amusingly, Respawn revealed EA “"had no hand” in Apex Legends’ development; the publisher was supposedly too afraid to even pre-announce the title.

Not to be throwing EA under the bus, but this wasn’t the game they were expecting. I had to go to executives and show it to them and explain it and…not convince but more “Hey, trust us! This is the thing you want out of us.” As a corporation, they can only quantify based on past data and they’ve never done anything like this before. There’s a giant rainbow question mark over revenue projections for this game. They’re like “We don’t know! We can’t predict.” This is a game we had to say “This is what we want to do. Help us get there.” They had no hand in development or anything about this game.

 

[STEvil]

watch the player count over time. can pretty much guarantee it will drop

 

[KazeoHin]

Well well well

Looks like when you make a good (not great) game, don't waste LITERALLY Millions of dollars on marketing and promotion and instead save and reinvest into the product, you get returns!



Shock fucking horror. Who would have guessed?

 

[IRSmurf]

Apex is the first battle royale that knocks my socks off. It's damn good. It came from a competent shooter and uses a modified Source engine. It runs well, mobility is high, and a lot of the guns feel great and predictable.

Your abilities can be used for yourself, but some of them can also be shared with your team or even used by the enemy. There are no I-win-buttons here, like Overwatch. The respawn mechanic is good, the balloons that allow you mini-redeploy are great and... I can't heap enough praise on this game. Go play it.

Sounds like the best thing EA can do is invest wisely, early and then keep their hands off it.

 

[Twisted Kidney]

Well well well

Looks like when you make a good (not great) game, don't waste LITERALLY Millions of dollars on marketing and promotion and instead save and reinvest into the product, you get returns!

You know, the internet is made of scuttlebutt, bullshit and fuddle-duddle. This is an era when advertising could be cheaper and smarter than ever yet still we see games where over half of the budget is spent on not the game.

 

[German Muscle]

Once the new wears off it will settle and show the real numbers.

I wasnt a huge fan of Apex but i havent uninstalled it yet. I do much prefer Ring of Elysium which after playing for a few hours of gameplay i uninstalled pubg.

 

[Nolan7689]

He’s trying to play nice and claim he’s not throwing EA under the bus but all I read was “we developed this in secret because we knew our corporate overlords would fuck us in the ass. We then pleaded them to not modify the game and trust in their developer.”

The industry is fucked.

 

[tetris42]

He’s trying to play nice and claim he’s not throwing EA under the bus but all I read was “we developed this in secret because we knew our corporate overlords would fuck us in the ass. We then pleaded them to not modify the game and trust in their developer.”

The industry is fucked.

If management walks away with one lesson from this, it's "Battle Royale is the answer to everything." I'm not optimistic either.

 

[alamox]

the game is great, i am having a blast, but ofc origin's crappy launcher i am having loads of issues.
looks like EA finaly got their esport cow.

 

[Shmee]

He’s trying to play nice and claim he’s not throwing EA under the bus but all I read was “we developed this in secret because we knew our corporate overlords would fuck us in the ass. We then pleaded them to not modify the game and trust in their developer.”

The industry is fucked.

To be fair, EA gave them to space to make it in secret. I am guessing not that many devs have that kind of freedom. They told EA to go away, and they did.

 

[piscian18]

I have to admit watching the gameplay, it appeals to me more stylistically than any previous battle royale. It seems more mature and team focused, like esports was their target audience and not tweens on twitch.

 

[skydriver]

If it gets them more/some Titanfall 2 sales I'm for it! Thats a great game that they got screwed on...good for them.

 

[mord]

To be fair, EA gave them to space to make it in secret. I am guessing not that many devs have that kind of freedom. They told EA to go away, and they did.

Now that its successful, EA will be all over it. Expect the studio to be disbanded within 18 months.

 

[Dregan73]

one would think that maybe EA could learn from this success and in the future give developers some room to breath and leave them the fuck alone, but knowing EA they will be back to there usual shit in a few weeks and find some way to fuck it up

 

[KazeoHin]

If management walks away with one lesson from this, it's "Battle Royale is the answer to everything." I'm not optimistic either.

That's EXACTLY what management is going to learn from this.

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

Well well well

Looks like when you make a good (not great) game, don't waste LITERALLY Millions of dollars on marketing and promotion and instead save and reinvest into the product, you get returns!



Shock fucking horror. Who would have guessed?

Sadly they are inevitably going to take the wrong lesson from this, credit its success entirely on having a Battle Royale mode and Battle Royale all the things.

Just wait, pretty soon NBA Live 2019 will get a Battle Royale mode

 

[Krenum]

Well, even a broken watch is right twice a day.

 

[Zion Halcyon]

Now can we get someone to make a secret Star Wars game?

 

[Krenum]

Now can we get someone to make a secret Star Wars game?

Battle Royal Star Wars? You better believe its being made. Talk about peas & carrots, instead of hauling hookers and blow with trucks , they'll be doing in with train cars.

 

[Nolan7689]

To be fair, EA gave them to space to make it in secret. I am guessing not that many devs have that kind of freedom. They told EA to go away, and they did.

That’s not exactly fair....respected developers should typically have freedom rather than it being the outlier

 

[skydriver]

To be fair, EA gave them to space to make it in secret. I am guessing not that many devs have that kind of freedom. They told EA to go away, and they did.

I swear I read somewhere they were kinda forced to scrap TF3 and let this (version of Apex) out. Ive feared EA closing this studio down, maybe they can still milk them some more but they are still around... their is that...

 

[andrewaggb]

So far I've found Apex fun-ish. I'm not big on battle royale because I die too much . I still miss the wall run and double jump from titanfall. It'll be interesting to see how they monetize it. Fortnite's season passes and dances and other lame stuff are a pretty smart way to go. Maybe they'll go rainbow six style and you pay for new legends (operators).

 

[alamox]

So far I've found Apex fun-ish. I'm not big on battle royale because I die too much . I still miss the wall run and double jump from titanfall. It'll be interesting to see how they monetize it. Fortnite's season passes and dances and other lame stuff are a pretty smart way to go. Maybe they'll go rainbow six style and you pay for new legends (operators).

you still have plenty of subtile movements that makes your character agile, dash+crouch then jump increase leap and speed, jump to a ledge and let go of forward and your char will hang at the ledge to sneak a peak, hold jump on a wall and you will climb a bit more, it's quite good actualy

 

[viscountalpha]

Where's my battle royale FIFA with an exploding soccer ball?

 

[Krenum]

Just watched a gameplay video. Looks boring as shit.

Are all these BR games the same? Spend 15 min gathering weapons & Equipment until the "ring" is small enough that you have to fight? I don't get it. Give me UT99 or Quake any day.

 

[HockeyJon]

It’s amazing how many more players you attract when your chief designer doesn’t say things like “don’t like it, don’t buy the game, I don’t care”.

 

[NWRMidnight]

Just watched a gameplay video. Looks boring as shit.

Are all these BR games the same? Spend 15 min gathering weapons & Equipment until the "ring" is small enough that you have to fight? I don't get it. Give me UT99 or Quake any day.

UT99 for the win!

 

[Nolan7689]

Just wait, pretty soon NBA Live 2019 will get a Battle Royale mode

I thought that was called dodgeball?

Wait....okay. Rockstar made a very well done and well reviewed table tennis game in 2006. Where the hell is our true to life simulation dodgeball game?

 

[Hakaba]

This is the best and worse thing they could have done... on one hand they apparently knocked it outbid the park, the down side the sequal and beyond will be shit. They will be sold out/disbanded and classified as a failure.

 

[maxius]

EA didn't pre-announce Apex Legends because Anthem

 

[NickJames]

Just watched a gameplay video. Looks boring as shit.

Are all these BR games the same? Spend 15 min gathering weapons & Equipment until the "ring" is small enough that you have to fight? I don't get it. Give me UT99 or Quake any day.

It's a fucking battle arena with extra steps. I honestly don't get the hype with these Battle Royale games, they're uninspired trash. Back in my day we loaded up a game, joined "24/7 Dust" and fragged till our hearts content without being put through 3 or 4 different loading screens every 5 minutes.

 

[N4CR]

Sadly they are inevitably going to take the wrong lesson from this, credit its success entirely on having a Battle Royale mode and Battle Royale all the things.


View attachment 140827


Just wait, pretty soon NBA Live 2019 will get a Battle Royale mode

That's called 'worlllstar' mode.

 

[oopspowsurprise]

Saying that EA didn't have a hand in its development means that there are incompetent folks at EA........ stock rises?

 

[maxius]

Saying that EA didn't have a hand in its development means that there are incompetent folks at EA........ stock rises?

it means EA is willing to let some of their developers succeed or fail on their own merits w/o interference. For fucking EA it is a god damn change form their S.O.P. buy dev once they make a failure big enough with ea's influence close them

 

[Flogger23m]

You know, the internet is made of scuttlebutt, bullshit and fuddle-duddle. This is an era when advertising could be cheaper and smarter than ever yet still we see games where over half of the budget is spent on not the game.

Sometimes it amazes me what they use for advertising. "Esports" teams, Hollywood celebrities, talk show hosts. I don't even know who 90% of these people are or what their relevance to gaming is. I can see the esport guys if it is an online game at least, but the other two? I suppose it must work on some level. For whatever reason people are obsessed with these clowns (actors and whatnot).

 

[focbde]

Which, if true, shows how idiotically fickle and broken the U.S. stock market really is.

 

[Bigshrimp]

This just proves that EA shouldn't be involved in any part of the development of games. They are cancer otherwise.

 

[Hakaba]

Ehh not a bad game, enjoy it more than pubg and that garbage fortnite.

 

[5150Joker]

watch the player count over time. can pretty much guarantee it will drop

EA is in control, they will fuck it up no doubt.

 

[Full Otto]

Sometimes it amazes me what they use for advertising. "Esports" teams, Hollywood celebrities, talk show hosts. I don't even know who 90% of these people are or what their relevance to gaming is. I can see the esport guys if it is an online game at least, but the other two? I suppose it must work on some level. For whatever reason people are obsessed with these clowns (actors and whatnot).

That's exactly the point. Why market to "Gamers" that already know what's up. You want to pitch it to peeps who have no idea what you're on about, on the off chance you'll hook someone new. The only thing even close to stealing your competitors customers is creating a new customer that will view you as their "first".

Gaming is growing like crazy, they're just trying to grab their piece of the pie. This is the way you do that.