Chinese publishing giant Tencent and plain ol' EA have started talks on bringing Respawn Entertainment's popular battle royale Apex Legends to the Chinese market and although nothing is official as of yet, it's apparently ongoing.
The rumour was picked up by South China Morning Post, who themselves picked it up from the Chinese microblogging website Sina Weibo, so do take it with a grain of salt.
That being said, Apex Legends has had such a stellar start to its career that even if the rumour was entirely untrue, it's almost certain to become true given enough time. Besides, EA not banking on its popularity? You've got to be kidding us.
Unfortunately, the deal itself wouldn't be the final obstacle to Apex Legends and China story, seeing as how the authorities there have been pretty strict when it comes to approving new games.
Tencent and NetEase only recently got for new games, after more than nine months of waiting, so it's not just the strictness - these approvals aren't that frequent.
In fact, China's State Administration of Press and Publications (SAPP) only held a fourth round of approvals since the government cracked down on games and game-related companies back in August 2018, over perceived increase in numbers of children suffering from myopia, i.e. nearsightedness.
It is expected, or at least hoped by both companies, that SAPP will be approving 2-3 thousand licenses annually, which would certainly make both Tencent and NetEase's life easier.
Unfortunately, so far neither Fortnite: Battle Royale or PUBG have made the cut, so it's unlikely that Apex Legends would have had better luck.
We've no doubt that Apex Legends will eventually get there and the rumour itself is in itself another confirmation of its quality, just in case concurrent players in a seriously short time wasn't enough.
EA
Respawn are far from done with Apex Legends too, as recent data mining uncovered , weapons, and even vehicles. With potentially coming in as well, we've got a lot to look forward too.
Apex Legends by Respawn Entertainment - screenshot & art gallery
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