Apex Legends has come a long way since its surprise launch and nothing could've prepared Respawn for the game's explosion onto the scene. Now, they're opening a new studio to focus on the game's development.
Vancouver happens to be one of EA's biggest studio locations and with no shortage of talent in the city, it made sense for Respawn to start a new chapter in Apex legends development.
Technically, the studio has been in place for about eight months now as they had some hiring to do. They're aiming for a team size of about 80, but they won't be rushing it.
"Rather than list out the thing we want to get done and therefore what roles we need, we started off with: we know we want to build Apex, And Apex has a huge opportunity to evolve in the future, being a live service game. And so we started with who was passionate about making Apex, and we built a team around strong individuals as opposed to a project plan", said team director Steven Ferreira.
Interestingly, Respawn's COO Dusty Welch said he's never run a franchise with so little pressure from the publisher, be it about monetisation, revenue or something else. Big franchises take time and long-term planning, and Welch insists EA has been incredibly supportive.
Speaking of long-term plans, Respawn will continue to look for expansion opportunities but their Vancouver studio will currently focus solely on Apex Legends.
"Vince [Zampella, Respawn's CEO] loves to dabble in all kinds of projects. His taste for game-making is not just in shooters. But look, you've got Star Wars out there - that's a huge passion for Vince and I - and we love all kinds of different games, and we'll continue to think about ways to expand. But right now, for at least for our team here, Apex is a huge focus and a great opportunity", Welch concluded.
You can find the full interview here .
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