Recently I had the chance to chat with a host of developers from Respawn Entertainment about Apex Legends and the games newest season Breakout and the game hitting 5 years. While they couldn’t answer every question that I wanted to ask, I did get some inside details on a few things.

These were the folks that were on the call, including the positions they have within the team, just so you know who answered what.

·         Evan Nikolich - Design Director

·         John Larson - Game Designer - Legends

·         Josh Mohan - Lead Battle Royale Designer

·         Amanda Doiron - Narrative Director

·         Eduardo Agostini - World Director

·         Chris C4 Cleroux - Lead Progression Designer

Maxi-Geek: With the game hitting 5 years, how is the team balancing creating new content for existing players and content to welcome in new players?

Evan: We are always looking at ways to make the game accessible, but we don’t want to shave off the hard edges, things that make it truly unique, the movement and the shooting, the longer TDK. So every season we are constantly making sure that it’s a bit more understood by new players, but also always adding new things to chase, new skills to learn and you see that with the new Legends system.

Yes we have made the skills more complex, but we have simplified the armour system and hope that is easier for players coming in, taking some of that RNG out and adding some more determinism so its more of a focus on skill.

Josh: I just wanted to say that sometimes what the new players complain about is the same thing that the veteran players complain about, so we always look for those moments when we can catch both audiences with one change. So some of the stuff we are doing to crafting and armour changes will hopefully appeal to both groups in unique ways.

MG: There has clearly been a lot of requests from Titanfall fans for a new game or something in Apex Legends that references that. After 5 years, has there been any plans to bring the two together, like on a new map set amongst the ruins of fallen Titans?

Evan: I’m not going to say anything about that, will keep you in suspense.

Amanda: There might be a little something that is from the Titanfall games that you’re going to be seeing this coming year. Just an element, a tiny element.

MG: 5 years for a live service game is a great milestone, has there been any change to the game that the community grabbed onto, that the team didn’t expect?

Josh: Forge!

Evan: Oh yeah, that’s the big one.

John: Yeah the Forge memes are still going strong.

Josh: I always talk about Nessie, which I loved as well, that was one that was unexpected for the team, it was a small peripheral element that has taken on a life of its own.

MG: The Final Fantasy collaboration was a nice surprise. Has the team created a list of other collabs that they would love to bring to players and if not what would your dream one be?

Evan: It’s a tough one, as I am in conversations so I kind of know what’s coming down the pipe and there are a few good potentials out there, so I won’t say much.

Ed: Masters of the Universe

John: I can’t wait for our Mario Kart/Apex Crossover with the Trident Cup

MG: The first trailer we saw today showed what the game could look like in VR, has there been any exploration of that option?

Evan: No, no VR plans at this time.

Josh: Yeah tap strafing in VR might be a bit

MG: My final question is a simple one. If you could describe Breakout and the 5th year anniversary in one word, what would it be?

Evan: Evolition

Josh: I can’t just think of one word, but every time we talk about the season and Breakout changes going in, I am always just reminded of how much is changing. There is a lot going on this season, so I am excited to see players get their hands on.

John: Fresh, if you look at a snapshot of the game in Breakout it might look the same, but the fact that we added 100 different upgrades for Legends, it can completely change how you approach certain Legends and the game just feels fresh.

Amanda: I was gonna say mines kind of a cop out and say celebration, but every anniversary feels like that. Another one was Passion, it is something I feel is very strong on the Apex team compared to other teams I have worked with and what we are seeing in Season 5 is the result of a lot of hard work from people who really love Apex.

Ed: I would say Cohesive. I would say we did a really good job of having this throughline from our marketing, through our presentations and events that we have planned, so everything just feels like its been designed with every other part in mind, so it really just feels like a good package.

C4: It is awesome, there are ton of new changes, not only for Ranked, but this is a time to get in and try amazing new things and test your metal, I am looking forward to it.

Many thanks to the Respawn team for answering my questions, to learn even more about Breakout and the celebration click here, otherwise get ready for big changes when Breakout begins on February 14th.